NEGAUNEE — The eigth annual UP200 Dryland Dash kicked off the dogsled season for the upcoming winter last weekend.

Mushers from all around the country gathered together to participate in a dogsled race, minus the snow.

“I couldn’t tell you the exact mushers, but there was 119 entries,” said UP200 Dryland Dash co-chair Kate Dehlin. “Some of those mushers are doubled up because they do multiple classes. So there was 119 registrations, is a better way to say it. A couple of them didn’t show up because first time, first race of the season people have trailer troubles, car troubles and stuff like that.”

The mushers not only began gearing up for upcoming winter races but also competed for $2,000 in prize money.

This year’s two winners were Anne Small and Benjamin Braumel. Small took first in the One- and Two- Dog Bikejor, and third in the Four- Dog -Rig. Braumel took first in the Junior CaniCross.

“It was two grand that was broken down between multiple classes,” said Dehlin. “There was a six-dog class, a four-dog class, a two-dog bike class, a two-dog scooter class, a one-dog bike class, a one-dog scooter class, canicross men’s and women’s, and then there was kids wheeled and kids canicross. Lots of classes.”

Dehlin said that the upcoming dogsled season will be particularly competitive, given that the 2026 Sleddog World Championship will be heading to the United States.

“This is the first race in the Midwest of the season. Now there is pretty much one every weekend until sometime in December,” Dehlin said. “This year is extra competitive and you see a lot more people out because the World Championship is expected to be in the United States next year, so this is the seeding year. So a lot of people are getting their training in so they can make Team USA.”

Despite the exciting start to the season, Dehlin hopes that this year’s version of the actual UP200 will go off without a hitch after the previous two were unable to go forward.

“We’ll see how the UP200 goes, I hope they start getting more entries but it depends on the snow. UP200 has been canceled the last two years.”

The UP200 is a major event each year in the Marquette area and the 2025 UP200 is slated to take place Feb. 13-17.