Mushers Prepare For 2nd Annual Klondike Dog Derby Race
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The dog sled racing season rolls on this weekend after the Beargrease race up north earlier this week. Mushers from around the continent have made their way to the Twin Cities for a much shorter race.
Elena Freking is 11 years old and the youngest of 25 mushers of all ages competing Saturday on Lower Lake Minnetonka.
"Well, I started doing it on my own when I was four," Freking said. She started young with a dog racing pedigree. Her dad is an Iditarod veteran and a two-time Beargrease champion.
"Last week my wife and I were doing the Beargrease marathon. And it's always nice running with her," Blake Freking said. "A few times throughout the race we'll end up, our schedules will mesh together and we get to run together, and this feels like turning the page a little bit. Here I am doing the same thing with my daughter."
Friendly family competition with some of the best in the world.
"We are very proud to have the winner of the 40-mile Beargrease, the winner of the 120-mile Beargrease and the winner of the 300-mile Beargrease joining us this week," said Bethany Hway, founder of Klondike Dog Derby.
This is just the second running of The Klondike Derby. It was missed last year due to COVID-19. But it's quickly gained popularity, carrying on a sometimes forgotten sled dog racing tradition on Lake Minnetonka that goes all the way back to the 1930s.
"The man who won The Klondike last year, Dave Hockman, is here. We found out that he won in 1996 on the lake in another race," Hway said.
This year's edition will have food trucks and festivities on Water Street before the mushers complete a 40-mile course Saturday.