Mushers harness sled dogs’ instinctive love of racing

Local mushers are hard at work training their teams as the cross-country ski trails outside of Olney are once again set to go to the dogs — for one weekend at least.

Teams from the Flathead Valley to Washington, Canada and beyond will make their way to the Dog Creek Lodge and Nordic Center in Olney for the fifth annual Flathead Classic dog-sled races Feb. 29 through March 1.

Founded by Dog Creek Lodge owner Brett Svetlik, the Flathead Classic is the continuation of the Flathead Sled Dogs Days event from the early 2000s and traces its roots as far back as the Root Beer Classic races in Polebridge in the 1980s.

While the race draws teams from around the country and even a few north of the border, for local racers Sara and Butch Parr and their friend and fellow racer Steve Riggs, the race is a way to get in some training close to home while also helping promote and draw new interest to the sport they love.

“It’s a family-friendly race and we try to get as many people involved as we can,” Butch said. “It’s a great race for spectators because there is such an opportunity to interact with the racers and their teams.”

Sara added, “It is so much fun to see the start of a race, when all the dogs are just jazzed and ready to go. It is just great to watch. Plus people get to see both the start and finish of the race, which is something you don’t get to do with a lot of races.”

Always a dog lover and avid cross-country skier, Butch got into sled-dog racing in the late 1970s after purchasing a husky puppy and bag of dog food for $50. The only location in the area where he could purchase food for his new dog was at Adanac Sleds and Equipment, where he met and befriended owner and dog racing legend Jack Beckstrom and his wife Pam and soon came home with a second dog.

At his first race, Butch borrowed three dogs so he could enter the race. After that, he said he was hooked.

“It’s one of those things where I just got too close to it and got sucked in,” Butch recalled. “It’s a great way to travel in the winter and I found that I really love it. After that first race, we had a litter of puppies and then away we went.”

“It’s his passion and my adopted passion,” Sara added.

While acquiring the dogs for his new passion was easy enough, Butch said training a lead dog and a team to race was a challenge, but a fun one.

“It was something I really had to work hard at, at first, but as I started getting dogs that were born and bred sled dogs, it got a lot easier,” he said. “They are pretty much genetically predisposed for racing, especially the Alaskan Huskies and Siberian Huskies.”

These days, the Parrs get dogs from sledding kennels and as soon as they are old enough, they are put in a harness and learn quickly from the veteran dogs. According to Butch, “they’ve got it figured out in no time at all.”

Over the years, Butch and Sara have put together a number of impressive dog teams, including the ones that pulled Butch to wins in the 350-mile Montana Race to the Sky in 1996 and 2000 as well as a third-place finish in the race’s predecessor, the 500-mile Governor’s Cup Sled Dog Race in 1990.

While the couple continues to race, they admit that food costs and lack of snow are starting to take a toll.

‘We just don’t get as much snow around here in the winter as we used to get,” Butch said. “That has been really tough on us lately. With 26 racing dogs, we have to buy food by the pallet. You have to feed them well and use quality food. They can’t eat junk and perform well.”

Despite the challenges, the Parrs say they will continue racing and operating their dog-sled tour business, Winter Woods Dog Sled Tours, as long as they can, sharing their love of the sport with as many people as possible.

“It’s a great sport with opportunities for everyone. In fact, many of the top dog-sled racers in the world right now are women,” Sara pointed out. “All ages and all walks of life can get involved with sled dog racing. You just have to love dogs, being outside and buying lots of dog food.”

Fellow Olney-area sled-dog racer Steve Riggs brought his love of the sport to Montana with him from Colorado.

The racer, who has competed in 12-dog races in the past and owned as many as 42 dogs at one point, is back to racing in the four-dog competitions with his remaining five dogs.

Much like Butch, Riggs’ love of sled-dog racing started out small.

“I saw a used dog sled for sale in the paper and I thought ‘I would like to try that,’” he recalled. “I hooked up my two dogs and none of us had a clue what we were doing. I figured out pretty quickly that two dogs is not enough to go anywhere, so I added another malamute.”

After purchasing a book on how to train lead dogs, Riggs set to work and soon found himself and his three dogs racing in a four-dog race in Casper, Wyoming, where he finished in the middle of the pack. While there, he met some fellow Colorado residents who were raising and racing Siberian huskies near where Riggs lived. He soon began training with them and rescuing Siberian huskies that nobody else wanted, calling the crew his “racing rejects.”

“Once people find out you are running a dog team, they start offering their problem dogs to you. So, I would end up with a gorgeous dog, but she digs up my yard, eats my couch and jumps my fence. Sled dogs are not always the greatest of pets,” Riggs admitted. “Once these dogs start doing what they were meant to do, a lot of times they will quit causing problems. They just need to run. It’s in their genetics and they need to do it.”

Over his 25-year racing career, Riggs has won a few races and finished dead last in others, but has enjoyed them all.

“I love all the races,” he said. “I especially enjoy the long races on a cold night with a full moon lighting the way. It’s cold, crisp and quiet and everything sparkles in the moonlight. There is just something magical about it.”

Both the Parrs and Riggs will take to the trails Saturday and Sunday as the Flathead Classic gets underway at the Dog Creek Lodge in Olney, starting with the two-dog skijoring event at 9 a.m.

Reporter Jeremy Weber may be reached at 758-4446 or jweber@dailyinterlake.com.b