2-day dogsled race gives mushers first taste of the trail

After the cancellation of the Sheep Mountain 150 dog sled race due to lack of snow, Mushers are looking to this weekend’s Alaska Excursion 120 as the early-season tune-up race of the winter.
Area mushers such as Vern Halter, Lisbett Norris from Willow, and Anya Radano from Talkeetna will line out up to 10 dogs in Big Lake on Saturday morning for a 60-mile race. On Sunday, the mushers will tackle the same course, starting in order of slowest time to fastest time from the previous days race.

The Excursion 120 was the brain-child of Robert Murphy and Ryan Reddington, who started the race in their back yard in 2009. Previous winners include Cim Smith, Blayne Streeper and Ryan Reddington. This year’s purse of 10,000 will be awarded based on daily finish times as well as overall placement.