“I came up to Michigan Tech with no idea what I wanted to do with my life,” said Amat. “I had no interest in mushing coming up to school; I didn’t really know it was a thing.”

But when he learned about the Michigan Tech Mushing Club and heard joining meant getting to hang out and work with a bunch of dogs, he was on board. And this year, he’s preparing for his second go at the UP200.

“I just slowly became engrossed in it,” said Amat. “I figured out that I really like canine athleticism, and all of the medicine that goes into it … I was a little unsure at first, but then I started working with the dogs more and realized it was what I wanted to do.”

Amat is now in his last semester of college with a major in medical laboratory science and plans to attend veterinary school, an interest gained from his experiences working with sled dogs.

Ben Amat is led by sled dogs Torino and Winchester, left to right. Both dogs will be on Amat’s UP200 team this year, with Winchester leading him down the start chute. (Photo courtesy of Michigan Technological University)

“Mushing is a very chaotic sport,” said Amat. “A lot of the attraction to the club is that it’s this really unique thing; you don’t have this anywhere else at any other college … It came a little more naturally to me, I don’t know why. I just continued loving it.”

Amat was racing by his second semester, competing in a 40 mile-long race in Minnesota. That summer he was offered the opportunity to drive 36 sled dogs up to Alaska to work at a sled-dog tour company there.

“That was a very big hook for me,” said Amat. “I really wanted to race more and become more involved after that. Now here I am!”

Amat is now president of the Michigan Tech Mushing Club. Last year was Amat’s first UP200 race, the longest race he’d done to date.

“My goal last year was just to finish the race,” said Amat, who did indeed finish in 12th place despite some serious obstacles.

“My first leg of the race went probably as poorly as you can get; I found myself down a highway accidentally … All of a sudden I’m going uncontrollably down this highway, M94, at 2 a.m. Thankfully there was a rescue crew, because once you’re on a highway you can’t stop. When there’s pavement or an icy road none of your breaks can catch anything, so it was very frantic, very scary. Luckily the rescue crew got to me and helped my team around and get back on track.”

There were more challenges to come.

“I had a couple issues with some dogs coming into that first checkpoint, and had to drop them from the team,” said Amat. “I had to drop three of them, which is pretty rare and pretty not good, I’d say. But then the rest of the race went really smoothly, after that.

“I didn’t think I was going to be able to finish, but they said the dogs I had kept on my team looked really good, so I kept slowly meandering my way through the trail. I finished!”

Now that Amat has accomplished his goal of completing the UP200, he’s back to do it a second time.

“[Finishing the race] was the thing I’d always wanted to do, so this year my goal is just to do what’s best with my dogs that I have,” said Amat. “I don’t care about placement, I just want them to do well and be well.

“I love how the dogs love to work. They get so excited for races; they get excited for training too, but when they’re in a different spot and there’s lots of people and there’s lots of other dogs around that they don’t know they get really amped up and they really like it.”

The Michigan Tech Mushing Club is hosted by Otter River Sled Dog Training Center and Wilderness Adventures in Chassel, owned by Tom and Sally Bauer.

“He very generously lets us use his dogs for club activities,” said Amat. “The club would not be a thing without him … his dogs are amazing.”

This year Amat’s sled team will include dogs he raced with in the UP200 last year, as well as veterans of the Midnight Run and a couple dogs for whom this is their first big race.

“I took them out for a long run yesterday and they did really well,” said Amat. “I’m super excited for this team.”

And while Amat may be almost done with his tenure as president of the Michigan Tech Mushing club, he’s not done with sled dogs.

“I plan as a vet student to come up to these races and help out with the vet team,” said Amat. “Then once I get my veterinary degree I plan to be a race vet.”

“I like the challenge of racing, just working through the issues, and just getting more experience for myself,” said Amat. “A lot of things about mushing you can’t really learn until you get onto a race trail. It’s a whole different atmosphere. That’s what drives me.”

Annie Lippert can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 550. Her email address is alippert@miningjournal.net.