Movie - The Great Alaskan Race at the Calumet Theatre

by Doug Harrer, CopperDog board chair ; Wednesday, February 12, 2020

You don't want to miss! the showing of the movie The Great Alaskan Race Thursday, February 27th, at 7:30pm at your Calumet Theatre. The cost is only $8.00

After overcoming personal tragedy, widowed father and champion musher Leonhard ‘Sepp’ Seppala steps in the midst of a diphtheria outbreak in his small dock town of Nome, Alaska to safely deliver the anti-toxin to the hospital. With his own child’s life on the line, Sepp battles the impossible, accompanied by his trusty pack of sled dogs. When a severe winter storm has made it impossible journey for planes, trains, or any form of transportation, Sepp and his dogs are able to get the anti-toxin to the children in need, just in the nick of time.

Don’t miss this exciting film based on true-life events and meet the star/director Brian Presley and “Ootek” the spirit wolf in an exclusive meet-and-greet after the screening!

Buy Tickets here at the Calumet Theatre

Meet the film maker

The Great Alaskan Race Educational Bundle is Here!

by Doug Harrer, CopperDog board chair ; Thursday, February 6, 2020

P12 Films, Iditarod Trail Committee, and the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon have partnered up to present an EXCLUSIVE 3-FILM educational bundle that takes you through a unique experience of the dog mushing world. This collection includes the feature film The Great Alaskan Race and two short documentaries: Iditarod’s Why Do They Run? and Lure of the North produced by Jonathan Chapman and presented by The John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon. You'll also find an Interactive Educational Video and Special Features (see list below).

1. The Making of The Great Alaskan Race

2. Behind-the-Scenes with The Iditarod

3. Beargrease Kick Off Video

4. Mushers Review The Great Alaskan Race

When you purchase your copy of the DVD here a portion of the proceeds goes back to support The CopperDog 150!!

Click here to see a short trailer from the movie

Click this link to Purchase the DVD Bundle

Thank you Copper Country and Calumet! A successful fundraiser

Doug Harrer, CopperDog150 Chairperson ; Tuesday, February 4, 2020

The Spaghetti Dinner Fund Raiser held Saturday February 1st at the Elk Lodge in Calumet was a huge success. Funny thing was we had no clue what to expect. We had considerable support from our media sponsors: radio ads, live radio, the newspaper, as well as facebook but it is difficult to gauge interest and participation. The Wednesday before the race - the board members made a friendly wager about the number of attendees. Our guesses were as low as 75 and as high as 250!

This event came about through our Strategic Planning Committee. This committee has been tasked with thinking of our future, immediate and long term growth. The Spaghetti dinner fundraiser was selected as a way to maximize donations as most of the costs for the event would be absorbed by sponsorship donations. Turns out the committee made a great decision!

It started off at 10 am Saturday morning with a few of us starting the noodles and getting the sauce warmed up. Getting brownies cut and coffee set up. Our merchandise team showed up with our new apparel and our other helpers showed up at 2pm. Now we knew it was show time. 3pm they started pouring in, slow at first but let me tell you what. Our community showed up! Noodles and the homemade sauce was flying out of the roasters. At some points Rich and I had a hard time keeping up. Good stuff though! 6pm came about and we had just two cups of sauce left when 2 to go’s came in at 6:02pm. Success!!! We ran out of everything and served over 275 people who paid. We served another 15 helpers so we are calling it 300. I know the math doesn’t add up but with all of the taste testing leading up to 3pm, I am perfectly confident that we hit 300.

Our community is the best!!! Reflecting yesterday during the Super Bowl I was unable to stop thinking about the support that our community gives the wonderful event. From our volunteers to our different community’s that continue to show support blows my mind. They just keep showing up every year! From the sign up on the website for volunteering, coming to and filling our volunteering training, standing at road crossings till midnight and later, putting up snow fence, being one of the 4,000 that show up down town Calumet Friday night for the start, showing up to the Saturday human dogsled race, showing up to our finish and finally enjoying our volunteer appreciation. I have a hard time even typing this about our community without getting a bit misty eyed.

CopperDog150 loves our Community, you are truly the best!!!

In the next news item on the fundraiser we will list all those wonderful people who made this event possible.

Incredible Bank once again our Lead-Dog Sponsor!

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

The CopperDog is pleased to accept the lead dog sponsorship check from Jamie Thyrion, Market Manager at Incredible Bank (formerly Rivervalley Bank) in Calumet. Jamie is once again serving as the CopperDog150 Resource Director this year. IncredibleBank has been a strong consistent supporter of the CopperDog150 race for all eleven years. The bank does much more than make a donation. The race relies on Incredible Bank facilities in Calumet to support the race. Many people from across the bank's branches in the Copper Country also volunteer to support the race.

Thank you Incredible Bank!

Pictured from left to right are Doug Harrer (CD Board Chair), Kelly Probst (CD Board), Jon Koskiniemi (CD Board), Kim Pici (CD Board Vice chair), Heidi Gervais (Incredible Bank), Walt Kiiskila (CD Board Treasurer), Skylar Grathoff (Incredible Bank), Jamie Thyrion (Incredible Bank and CD Community Coordinator), and Jay Aldrich (Incredible Bank)

What Is CopperDog?

by Lesley DuTemple ; Sunday, September 23, 2012

Hey! Let’s organize a sled dog race!

That’s what a small group of people said in 2009, and from that initial idea the CopperDog 150 and CopperDog 40 sled dog races were born.

Both races usually run the first weekend in March. The CopperDog 150 features teams of ten dogs and covers 150 miles in three days, while the CopperDog 40 featured teams of six dogs and covered approximately forty miles in one day. The first weekend in March finds 350+ dogs racing through Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula.

The CopperDog 150, and now the CopperDog 80 and CopperDog 25 instead of the CopperDog 40, are organized by CopperDog, Inc., a 501(c)3 organization located in Calumet, Michigan, a small town in the middle of the Keweenaw Peninsula – a narrow finger of land on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula that juts into the middle of Lake Superior.  With an average annual snowfall of 241 inches it’s the perfect place for... well, a sled dog race.

Since its beginning the CopperDog races have attracted mushers from around the world. While many mushers come from the Midwest, each race usually has several Canadian mushers competing – and in 2011 and 2012 a musher from South Africa competed.

CopperDog is definitely a labor of love. It is an entirely volunteer operation, with more than 500 volunteers helping to put the race on. Local residents help mushers with their dogs, provide housing, and oversee trail crossings. Local police and fire departments volunteer their time to man all highway crossings and ensure the safety of all volunteers and participants. On its business end, CopperDog, Inc. is run by an unpaid volunteer board of directors.

CopperDog is more than just two sled dog races. In addition to promoting community vitality through sled dog racing, CopperDog strives to provide education on the history and sport of sled dog racing. Numerous public events – such as classroom visits, volunteer training, “Meet the Dogs” events, and free sled dog rides - are held throughout the year.

CopperDog is always looking for new volunteers. If you’d like to work with a great group of people and be part of one of the MOST FUN winter events you’ll ever see, please contact us. We can’t do it without you!

2019 CopperDog150 Race Results

The CopperDog Team ; Sunday, March 3, 2019

Another CopperDog 150 race is in the books with Martha Schouweiler, a previous CD40 winner coming in first just ahead of Ryan Anderson, followed by Rita Wehseler in third place.

Click here to see official race results

CD150 Race Results

2019 CopperDog80 Race Results

The CopperDog Team ; Sunday, March 3, 2019

Another CopperDog 80 race is in the books with Jerry Trudell, a local Calumet, Michigan resident, this year's winner. Followed closely by an impressive second stage finish by Alex LaPlante and Lynn Witte.

Click here to see official race results

CD80 Race Results

CopperDog 25 Results

Thursday, March 8, 2018

The CopperDog 25 race was added this year in commemoration of the 10th Annual running of the CopperDog in 2019.  The CD25 featured an impressive field of 18 teams. All teams finished. Geri Menard won the event, followed by our local Hancock musher, Susan Serafini in second and Linda Thompson in third place. Mushers and fans seemed to really enjoy our return to a short race. The Village of Gay community embraced the event and provided a marvelous finish. Luminaries aligned the finish line to make for a spectacular night time finish.

Our newest Assistant Race Director Maddie Harrer is seen here presenting the first place plaque to Geri Minard.

Remembering Jo Cauvin

The CopperDog Family ; Wednesday, February 27, 2019

It is with a heavy heart that CopperDog announces the passing of a longtime family member, Jo Cauvin.

Jo was a founding incorporator of CopperDog, a board member and officer, and the skills she brought from her corporate background were invaluable in guiding the organization through its infancy and into the present day.

Jo personally took on the obtaining of land permits, waivers, liability forms, and insurance. All the "Invisible" tasks with no glory, but without them CopperDog would not exist. There would be no race. A week before her death, Jo was still working on these tasks, tying up loose ends for the 10th annual 2019 race.

Jo was also a vital resident of her beloved Eagle Harbor and handled the organization of that checkpoint, personally raising the sponsorship money, every year, for that stop on the race.

We will miss her insight, business acumen, loyalty and tireless energy. But most of all we are grateful she chose to devote her considerable talents to CopperDog.

We send our love and condolences to her family and friends. Thank you for sharing her with us.