Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org
Surnames: Marsch
----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 2/08/2018
Marsch - “Mush Madness” (Dog Sledding - 2018)
Area Man Races Forward as Spotlight hits winter sports
The greetings are plenty when Mike Marsch visits his sled dogs at his Globe-area farm northwest of Neillsville in Clark County. (Scott Schultz/Clark County Press)
By Scott Schultz
Sled-dog racing has ben a big part of Marsch’s life since the 1980s, and a Neillsville-area man would like at least a form of that racing becoming a Winter Olympic event.
When the Winter Olympics get under way this week, though, Marsch will be happy with getting ready for – and participating in – more short-course races.
Marsch was preparing late last week for another racing event, that one over the weekend at Land O’ Lakes. A bit of added excitement was in his voice when he mentioned that his and his wife Kim’s 22-year-old daughter Hannah would be racing in the event.
Neillsville-area musher Mike Marsch rode behind his dog-team during the weekend sled-dog races at Land O’ Lakes. Marsch and his daughter, Hannah, won the six-dog and four-dog events at the races. (Contributed photo)
“The day before an event is a little crazy,” he said.
He said many people are familiar with long-distance sled-dog racing. Those races often use large bodies of frozen lakes as part of their courses or have large land-masses where adequate snow is nearly guaranteed, such as in Alaska.
In places such as Wisconsin, however, the majority of the races consist of shorter and faster events.
Those shorter races also involve dog breeds different than the Husky-like breeds used in the longer endurance races. Most of Marsch’s dogs are German Shorthair and Greyhound mixes he said give needed short-distance speed.
Marsch primarily runs in six-dog events. A career highlight for his family’s Dog Daze Kennels was winning a 2015 International Federation of Sled Dog Sports world championship.
Most recently, he finished third in the ISDRA event Jan. 27 in Merrill. He and his daughter both finished first during the weekend’s Land O’ Lakes races. As for the chances that sled-dog racing might ever become part of the Olympics, Marsch said it’s a challenging proposition.
“There are feelings about the dogs being the real athletes, because the people mostly only ride behind them and give directions,” he said.
But that hasn’t stopped the hope for Olympic involvement. Marsch is president of the U.S. Federation of Sled-dog Sports, the national governing body that works to uphold the ideals and guidelines of the U. S. Olympic Committee. That connection is needed for any hope of the sport ever being part of the Olympics, he said.
He’s affiliated with the IPSS, which sets international standards to be followed.
Whatever eventually happens, Marsch said there always will be advancements in the sport.
“There are a lot of different options for us in this region,” he said. “Everything evolves; everything continues to change.”
Mike Marsch gave his dog sled’s runners a new coat of wax in preparation for upcoming competition. Marsch, who lives in the Globe area, competes in short-course races. (Scott Schultz/Clark County Press)
