Saturday February 27, 2021 there will be a recreational dog mushers event called Dog WAG (Winter at Gorham) held at the Shaw Farm Cherry Hill Trails. This is a collaboration between the Gorham Recreation Department and the DownEast Sled Dog Club. It will be a self-timed event with random prize drawings throughout (there will be no prizes or awards for placements).

Katie Jordahl, a member of the club and organizer of the event said, “We are always looking for good, safe trails to run our dogs without a lot of traffic. Sometimes if you want a good local event, you must create it yourself, thus the reason for Gorham came to mind.” She went on to say, “The Shaw Farm Trails are great wide trails and, once snow covered, they provide a lot of the wonderful qualities for a small recreational venue. They also happen to be adjacent to a nice brewery with great food.”

According to Jordahl, dogsledding is most commonly thought of as an event only practiced by large kennels and teams (8 or more dogs on a team). “I admire those that have that ability to support and train such teams,” she said. However for her, having a family, smaller amateur or less practiced sportsman teams are groups she targets with her races. “We are advertising it to the household teams to encourage participation in the sport.” She called them the “weekenders” who are curious about the sport.

The local snowmobile group Snogoers will be grooming the trails, however, should there be insufficient snow, the event will be moved to dryland format which is typically a fall sport in preparation for snow racing, though it can also be run in the spring. Jordahl said the safety of the participants and the dogs are first and foremost.

The Dog WAG is on public property, and spectators are encouraged to come out; the public will be notified of the race day in advance and no other individuals or domestic animals should be on the trails at the time of the event. All times are subject to change dependent upon the number of participants/class and the weather. It is online Registration only, which will close February 25th at 11:59 pm. For more information on the event and how to register, please click here.

It is the primary goal of the Down East Sled Dog Club to host a safe event for all participants, support crews, and spectators. With this in mind, the organizers have several steps that everyone in attendance must take in order to maintain the safety of others. The following are guidelines that must be followed while on the property of Shaw Brothers Cherry Hill Farm and in attendance of the race: