Sled dog races
An exciting finish to Saturday's VIP dog sled race was witnessed as Jessica DeJong, manager of Aspirus Merrill Center won in 1:20.6 seconds, just 3 seconds faster than James R. Koch representing Dynamo Creative Marketing! Amy Dinges raced for 3rd, an employee of River Valley Bank who sponsored the Custom Design Cool Running Sled Dog Race Family Activities. All three exclaimed: "It was fun and they could cross that off their Bucket List."
Winner of the timed Ottoman Race (Courtside Furniture donated recliners that were pushed thru the snow on cross country skis) was Evyn Schmitz in 14.6 seconds and was awarded the Coleman travel cooler from Custom Design Heating & Cooling. Volunteers from the Lincoln Co. Humane Society manned the Lucky Dog Toss. Shelby Smukowski was randomly drawn from all contestants who succeeded in throwing their stuffed dog into the red barrel. She won a wheeled Coleman cooler and winning the Picnic Cooler was Zach Kriegel for participating in the Sled Pull from all who participated in pulling a real dog sled on a course on the Pine River school playground.
During the Sled Dog Supper held Saturday evening at Lincoln Lanes, the Custom Design Cool Running Coloring Contest winners were selected by those attending the AYCE spaghetti supper. Arriana, daughter of Carrie Schreiner from Athens won a Ribbon Gift album selected by Dynamo Creative Marketing in the 4th & 5th grade category. Faith Weber was selected First Place for the 2nd & 3rd grade division. Mya Wilde won the Kindergarten & 1st grade division and Lily Dallman won the Pre - Kindergarten group; all received a Kaleidoscope Gift album. The top 5 contestants all won prizes like storybooks, Bookworld certificates and Culver's Kids Meals.
Tim Haight, owner of Merrill Ace Hardware, won the Arctic Star Dog Sled in the Custom Design Cool Running Trailblazers Raffle. Kathy Walters from Kronenwetter won the framed Iditarod print and Ruth DeJarlais, the principal of Pine River School won a hat and hoodie with the race logo printed on them. This 13th year of the WI Trailblazers Sled Dog race shrunk to a one day Fun Run with dogs pulling ATV's because of the melting snow and bare fields.
The Wisconsin Trailblazers Sled Dog Club thank the many sponsors of this event, including Lincoln Community Bank, Napa, Brickners Park City, Daves County Market, VIP Office Products, Knab Insurance and the Econo Lodge.