The 2018 Percy DeWolfe Memorial Mail sled dog race

My friend is up from Vancouver visiting for the week, which was nicely timed for her to see the start of her first sled dog race!

It was a cool morning, in the -20’s Celcius. Great for the dogs!

This race starts here in Dawson City and goes down the Yukon River, northwest to Eagle, Alaska, and then back again. It is a memorial race to commemorate Percy DeWolfe, who delivered the mail from Dawson to Eagle for decades.

Daniel our post master passes off a bag of mail, with the help of the RCMP, to the first sled, to take up to Eagle. As a fundraiser for the race, people can purchase an envelope, write a letter, and have it sent in this sack of mail on its way to be mailed.

The dogs were really eager to get the race underway!

But first, bib #1 is reserved for the memory of Percy and we counted him down. Then the postmaster and the RCMP brought the mail to the first sled.

Many young school children joined the crowd to count down the teams, who had a staggered start, one team every 2 minutes.

Tonight Colette and I are staffing the checkpoint from 8pm until midnight! Should be fun!

For more information about the Percy race, the mushers, or to track the teams’ progression through the race, visit http://www.thepercy.com/ .