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Since starting her mushing career in
2006, Mariah Ahlert has raced in places like Montana, Wisconsin and
Minnesota races in Frazee and Bemidji.

      This weekend, Ahlert will race much closer to home.

      At 10 a.m. Saturday, Warner Lake County Park near Clearwater
will host the East Meets West Dryland Championships, a two-day dog
sled racing event. Racing continues at 9 a.m. on Sunday.

      "It's so much nicer because you don't have to take off school
and I don't have to pack; I just have to have my stuff all ready to
go in my trailer," said Ahlert, a junior at Technical High School.
"Helps with the expense and the dogs."


      The race comes to Clearwater after being hosted at Brainerd
International Raceway. Once Brainerd decided to no longer host the
event, dog-racing fans in Central Minnesota pushed to bring it
closer.

      "When they (Brainerd) weren't able to work out something, we
pitched it to the city of Clearwater and brought it as a business
opportunity," said Monica Jendro, the East Meets West race
coordinator.

      Jendro also got the support of the International Sled Dog Racing
Association. Joel Nelson, a 20-year musher from Clear Lake, also
promoted the sport in Clearwater.

      "Bringing (dryland racing) into central Minnesota seemed to be
an excellent fit," said Nelson, the grand marshal of the Dryland
Championships. "We met with Stearns County park (department), and
we got an absolutely beautiful venue."

      The community has supported the new event. Among the sponsors
for East Meets West are the Clearwater Travel Plaza, Bernick's and
St. Cloud State University radio station KVSC. With the help of the
sponsors and race organizers, the weekend will have a purse of
$10,000.

      "My eyes have been opened by how many people it takes to run
something like this," Jendro said.

      One of the biggest helping hands has been Ahlert's uncle,
Nelson. Before retiring from racing, Nelson helped spark his
niece's interest in mushing after the Ahlert family moved to St.
Augusta from Ohio three years ago.

      "I'm a big animal lover. He hooked me up as a jockey for a few
of his teams," Ahlert said. She, along with her pack of
Scandinavian hounds, will run the adult six-dog rig, the East Meets
West's biggest race. The race will have a purse of $2,500, with
$625 going to the winner.

      "This is the first year with my own team; last year I ran other
people's teams that needed a jockey."

      In total, the East Meets West Dryland Championships will have
eight races. Other events include a food shelf and a fun run.

      Sixty racers were signed up as of Tuesday, but Nelson is
projecting more than 80 racers will register before Saturday.
Racers are arriving from as far east as New York, Pennsylvania and
New Hampshire, as far north as Quebec and as far south as Oklahoma.

      A fair share of mushers will come from the St. Cloud area.
According to Nelson, about 30 mushers live within a 20-mile radius
of St. Cloud.

      "It's an underground group of people," he said. "We had over
100 dogs and four other mushers that were running dogs in a
half-mile (of my home)."

      The racers come from all over, but the friendliness and
camaraderie of the riders is what draws mushers like Ahlert to the
sport.

      "I love these events because of how accessible the mushers
are," Ahlert said. "One race I was in, a racer broke a wheel on
their cart; the next morning, three wheels showed up at her trailer
from other racers."

      "People can talk to people who are racing," Jendro said.
"It's not like you're miles away like a football or baseball game
- you're right there."

      Spectators will have an opportunity to meet the racers with a
Meet the Mushers dinner at 5 p.m. Saturday.

      Jendro hopes the interest shown in the Dryland Championships
this weekend will make the races a yearly event.

      "It'll be a great weekend, super family-friendly event, totally
free to go out and see it," Jendro said. "It should be a really
competitive event."

      Information from: St. Cloud Times, http://www.sctimes.com

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Since starting her mushing career in
2006, Mariah Ahlert has raced in places like Montana, Wisconsin and
Minnesota races in Frazee and Bemidji. This weekend, Ahlert will race much closer to home.

Clearwater to host dryland dog sled race

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