Michael Bestgen is seen on the course of the Copper Dog 150 in this photo by Adam Johnson of Brockit Inc. Bestgen, of St. Cloud, Minn. was the winner of the main event. Bestgen was the only competitor in this year’s race to have participated in all 15 Copper Dog 150 races. (Photo courtesy of Brockit Inc/Adam Johnson)

CALUMET — The Copper Dog 150 returned to the Keweenaw this weekend. The event started on Friday in downtown Calumet.

After a blustery beginning, calmer weather greeted the mushers for the Eagle Harbor and Copper Harbor legs over the weekend.

When the snow settled on Sunday, Michael Bestgen took the title. It was the first CopperDog 150 win for the St. Cloud, Minn. musher. But it wasn’t for lack of trying as Bestgen was the only musher to participate in all Copper Dog races since its founding.

The windy conditions and snowfall welcomed those gathered to see the return of one of the Keweenaw’s most cherished winter events on Friday night. Once the anthems were sung, with two dogsleds pulling the American and Canadian flags, the teams approached the starting line to wait for their turns to race down Calumet’s Fifth Street.

After last year’s race was canceled due to lack of snow, many of those gathered Friday, shared how excited they were to see the return of Copper Dog 150.

“That’s more like it,” was a common phrase heard from both spectators and volunteers working the.

Volunteer Director Krissi Tepsa said the weather was perfect.

“I think everybody is pretty happy and pretty stoked to be able to run the full race again this year,” she said. All the volunteers are ready to get going, and we’ve got a full stack of volunteers again.”

While the volunteer and working staff was full, Tepsa said they were a little more difficult to find this year due to Michigan Tech students being on Spring Break and not having Finlandia students. The volunteers present however fulfilled their tasks to help the event run smoothly as possible.

One thing that was very smooth were the trails, of which Tepsa said that the warm weather before the event melted several layers of snow and then the refreeze left the trails in great conditions for dogsled racing.

Release team member Anthony Laidlaw said that no matter the conditions, the mushers and dogs love the race.

“They love this no matter what,” he said. “It’s always an adventure for them. But I think everybody who comes out for the race just loves to see the dogs run. They love the camaraderie that we have in Calumet.”

After leaving Calumet, the mushers made their way to Eagle Harbor and then the race continued for the next two days going to Copper Harbor and then back to Calumet. Other races’ winners included Joann Fortier in the Copper Dog 80, Larry Fortier won the Copper Dog 30 and Jake Golton won the Copper Dog 15 sprint.