About the Club
It all started when…
Adam Schmidt, a second-year chemical engineering major with a passion for mushing approached Tom and Sally Bauer, owners of the Otter River Sled Dog Training Center in Tapiola, MI and asked for an internship. He began running competitively with the Bauers and raced in several events including the CopperDog 150. Adam then decided that he wanted his fellow students to be aware of the same opportunity he had engaged with, so he reached out and found Claire Hendricks, a forestry major, and together they started the Mushing Club at Michigan Technological University, the only known collegiate mushing organization in the nation.
In its first year, the club entered seven rookie mushers in race events like the Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon in Duluth, MN, the UP200 in Marquette and Gwinn, MI, and the CopperDog 150 in Calumet, MI. The club gained a fair amount of publicity and established many valuable connections with others within the mushing community from all over the country.
Racing only encompasses a small amount of what the Mushing Club does. If you were to try and get involved with sled dogs outside of the mushing club, you would probably approach a kennel owner and work out some sort of a deal to be able to run dogs. The expenses and time that it would take to engage in the sport competitively would require a lot of persistence and dedication.
The Mushing Club looks to preserve that process for its core qualities but expedites it to make it a more attainable opportunity. Our definition of mushing is rather loose. If you are a student who needs a break from the stresses of college and would like to spend some time outside with some of the best canines on earth, then as far as we are concerned, that’s mushing. From time to time we’ll have large groups of people out to the sled dog kennel for bonfires. Some people have no interest in getting dragged by a team of eight overly-excited sled dogs and would rather help out with kennel chores and play with puppies.
Others however experience that flare in their eyes as they take a team of dogs into the upper peninsula forest. Our most dedicated members get their homework done early enough to make it out to the kennel after classes to hook up teams by the light of a headlamp in sub-zero temperatures and several feet of snow. It then turns in to a friendly competition between those students to see who can be most qualified to run a race.
Recently our club has started to expand to dryland with bikejoring, canicross, and scooters. Several of our members use kennel dogs as well as their own personal dogs.
You pick your involvement with this club, and other than a small participation fee, we never ask for more than you are willing to give up. It is truly an opportunity that anyone can experience.
