Sprint races

Under the authority of national federal structures (Fédération Française des Sports de Traîneau (Sled Dog French Federation), Ski-Pulka and Cross canins pour la France), sprint races will take place in the weekend, on 2 or 3 rounds. Their length will vary according to the race category:

• Pulka : 7 to 12 kilometers
• 4 dogs : 8 kilometers
• 6 dos : 12 kilometers
• 8dogs : 16 kilometers
• Unlimited : 20 kilometers

This discipline of sport has a European federation (ESDRA) and an International federation (IFSS), which organize each year the European and the World championships.
The team’s speed makes those races extremely impressive. It can exceed 40km/h in some places (the world record of the faster 1 km start almost reaches 45km/h) and slightly varies between 20 and 30 km/h of average speed on the whole distance.

Big nations for sprint races are Norway, Sweden, the United States, Germany, for the main categories, while France, Italy, Holland and Eastern countries separate in several categories with fewer dogs. Pulka remains Norwegians’and Finnish’ specialty. Only Alaska stands out in this trail: speed races are longer (up to 50 kilometers per round) and most of the time they are professional.