Rice man organizes dog-sled race in Little Falls

by Frank Lee

news@thenewsleaders.com

It was over before it began, but Bob Bzdok of Rice will continue doing what he loves: dog-sled racing.

The third Winter Warrior Sled Dog Race that was scheduled to start the weekend of Feb. 12 at Camp Ripley was cancelled due to a lack of snow and fluctuation in temperatures.

“We’re animal lovers, so we just like to spend time with them, and dog-sled racing is just a different way to get out and spend time with them and family, too, and from the racing standpoint of it, I just like the competitiveness of it as well,” Bzdok said.

Bob Bzdok, his brother Brian and Erin Becker put a lot of time and effort into organizing the three-day event in Little Falls before it was cancelled a week prior to starting.

“We’ve already put in a lot of work in this year’s race. Like any event, you can’t start the week before and expect everything to go well,” Bob Bzdok said of the cancellation.

“We’ve been out at Camp Ripley for a couple of weeks for several meetings to map out a trail . . . but also we worked hard in getting the word out with posters, visiting with sponsors and trying to solicit them for donations and support, and lining up volunteers.”

The Winter Warrior Sled Dog Race has been a “proud and successful” traditional event for the Minnesota-based North Star Sled Dog Club since it began in 2013.

“The dogs are just bred to run and they love it,” Bzdok said. “The question is not ‘How do I get them to run?’ but ‘How do I get them to stop?’”

The 43-year-old sales administrator and the other two main co-organizers of the race – his brother and Becker – belong to the North Star Sled Dog Club, which sanctions the Winter Warrior Sled Dog Race.

“Time is always in short supply, so the biggest challenge is finding enough time to get out and work with the dogs enough to get them conditioned and in shape, and basically finding each one’s niche in the team,” Bzdok said.

Race events were set to begin Feb. 12 with the sprint teams, consisting of teams of two, four, six or 10 dogs and which will take to trails of three to 10 miles.

“The Winter Warrior Sled Dog Race is a unique dog sled race because it combines the two facets of sled-dog racing, which is distance based and sprint racing,” Bzdok said.

On Feb. 13, the mid-distance teams would have started the day with teams of six or 10 dogs, traveling on trails of 25 to 45 miles.

“With all races you go to, it’s pretty hard to find anywhere where you can run the entire race on one property like Camp Ripley,” Bzdok said. “You are always crossing public roads and stuff like that where it takes a lot more involvement from local authorities.”

Top teams from all around the Midwest and beyond were set to compete for prize money made possible by the support of the many local sponsors.

“The purpose of the Winter Warrior Sled Dog Race is to enhance and promote the sport of sled-dog racing through education and making venues like Camp Ripley and other races available to the public just to gain exposure for the sport,” he said.

Bzdok said organizers were expecting about a hundred to participate at this year’s Winter Warrior Sled Dog Race and had almost 40 entries by the time the race was cancelled.

“The lack of snow was the only thing holding us back,” he said. “The snow we’ve gotten lately has been so fluffy where it doesn’t pack down good to make a good trail . . . And a lot of the trail is across swamps and through woods and a lot of rough areas where you need a foot of snow to put in a good, safe trail for the dogs and the mushers.”

The North Star Sled Dog Club has been organizing sled-dog races in Minnesota since the 1960s. The Winter Warrior Sled Dog Race is part of North Star’s competition circuit.