On scene at the Gichigami Express

The Gichigamee Express Sled Dog Race is underway now in Cook County. The race commemorates the long tradition of dog mushing in Cook County. 
 
In this feature,  WTIP producer Cathy Quinn takes us along to the start of the race at Mineral Center in Grand Portage, Sunday morning, January 6, 2013.   (Click on audio mp3 above to hear this feature.)

From Mineral Center, teams headed for Hungry Jack Lodge on the Gunflint Trail.  After the first leg of the race on Sunday, there were three mushers, including two from the North Shore, who had finished the Grand Portage to Hungry Jack leg of the Gichigami Sled Dog Race in under four hours .

On Sunday night, the mushers, volunteers and race fans enjoyed an outdoor barbecue at Trail Center on the Gunflint  Trail.

The 59-mile second leg of the race started Monday morning at 9 o'clock after breakfast at Windigo Lodge. The mushers and teams raced from Windigo  Lodge on the Gunflint Trail to The Landing at Devil Track Resort, in the longest of the three-stages.  A spaghetti feed celebrates the end
of the second leg, Monday night at American Legion Post 413 in Grand Marais, starting at 6 p.m.

On Tuesday, the 41-mile third and final leg of the Gichigami Express Sled Dog Race takes off from The Landing at Devil's Track Resort at 9 AM, following a Grand Marais Lions Club pancake breakfast at Sven and Ole's from 6 to 8.    The teams finish at Mineral Center in Grand Portage Tuesday afternoon.   The final awards banquet will be held at the Grand Portage Lodge and Casino at 6 PM, Tuesday. 

More information is available  at www.gichigamiexpress.com.