Sled dog races coming to Sisters

Sled dog racing will take over Sisters during part of the Atta Boy 300 Oregon World Cup next Tuesday and Wednesday, January 6-7.

This is a "stage race" spread over eight days. Two of those stages take place in the Sisters backcountry, recently blanketed with heavy snow.

In a stage race, each of the days features a complete race in itself, rather than one long race of many days, such as the Iditarod in Alaska.

The Iditarod, where many of the Atta Boy race competitors have run, starts March 6, running from Anchorage to Nome.

The Atta Boy 300 actually starts on Sunday, January 4, in Bend with a ceremonial start at Mt. Bachelor. The race ends on January 11 at the same place.

The Sisters area stages will have their start at Hoodoo Ski Area. Dog teams will race approximately 41 miles and finish back at the start line. Start time for all races is 9:30 a.m. and all of the races are open to spectators.

This series has been dubbed "Race for Vision" in honor of Rachael Scdoris, a recent graduate of Redmond High School who is legally blind. She was recently accepted to run the 1,100 mile Iditarod race across Alaska.

More than an athletic event requiring strength, endurance and a high tolerance for hardship, this Oregon World Cup event will raise funds to help those who are visually impaired. Last year, the race facilitated $13,000 worth of free vision exams in cooperation with 20 local eye care specialists in Central Oregon.

Since the end of the 2003 race, an additional donation of $40,000 worth of lenses and frames has been provided and approximately $20,000 worth of free eye exams.

In association with the Central Oregon Community Action Agency Network (COCAAN), eye exams and eyeglasses will be provided free to any qualifying individual in Central Oregon.

Of special note to dog sled racing fans, Buddy Streeper, world sprint champion, will be in the local races. His team ran away with every event he entered during last year's season, winning the Canadian Championship, the North American Championship and the World Championship. He is from Fort Nelson, British Columbia.

Others racing here will be Melanie Shirilla from Swingley/Shirilla Kennel, who won last year's event. Her partner Doug Swingley, four-time Iditarod champion and winner of the first Atta Boy 300 in 2002, will also return this year.

Also running will be Richard Beck, Sam Perrino, Jacques Philip, Grant Beck, Martin Koenig and Frank Teasley, who redefined modern day stage racing in 1995.

Libby Riddles, first woman winner of the Iditarod, will be race marshall.

One of the conditions of stage racing, as in the multiple-day races, is that mushers and dogs must camp and sleep out-of-doors.

Race fans can visit the drivers and their dogs during the campouts and, if hardy enough, can sleep outside along with the sled dogs.

For more information visit www.attaboy300.com.