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Hundreds of people lined Main Street in Fort Kent on Saturday morning to cheer at the starting line the Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Race. 

The night before, dump trucks made dozens of trips between 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. to pile snow on this quarter-mile stretch of Main Street. One by one, the mushers and their dogs set out for 30, 100 or 250 miles. The dogs yipped and howled, tugging on their harnesses, eager to run.

“They’re ready, folks,” the announcer shouted into the microphone. “They’re jumping.”
— Megan Gray/Staff Writer

Snow is spread out along Main Street in Fort Kent on Friday night at the starting area of the Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Race, which was held on Saturday. (Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer)
Alex Gurka, of Winn, puts a harness on her dog Turkey Tail before the start of the 100-mile competition in the Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Race in Fort Kent on Saturday. (Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer)
Julia Klaucke, of Medford, gets a kiss from one of her dogs as she puts a harness on it before the start of the 100-mile competition of the Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Race in Fort Kent on Saturday. (Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer)
Dogs run down the starting chute ahead of musher Fayth Weed in the 100-mile competition of the Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Race in Fort Kent on Saturday. (Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer)
Amelia Schwarz comes up a trail near the Clair-Fort Kent International Bridge in the 30-mile competition of the Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Races in Fort Kent on Saturday. (Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer)
Musher Eric Delisle takes a curve in the trail as Amelia Schwarz climbs a hill on the outskirts of Fort Kent during the 30-mile competition in the Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Race on Saturday. (Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer)
Musher Rocky Berube makes his way down the starting chute during the 30-mile competition in the Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Race in Fort Kent on Saturday. (Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer)
Caroline Plouffe leaves the starting area in downtown Fort Kent during the 30-mile competition in the Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Race on Saturday. (Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer)
Musher Caroline Plouffe waves to the crowd as she makes her way through downtown Fort Kent in the 30-mile competition in the Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Race on Saturday. (Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer)
Wyatt Marquis, an 18-year-old from Fort Kent, comes into the finish line in the 30-mile competition of the Can-Am International Sled Dog Race on Saturday. (Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer)

Gregory got his start in journalism delivering his hometown newspaper, the Norwich Bulletin, as a teenager, reading the front page articles on dark winter mornings as he passed under streetlights. Greg...