Toronto Photography Meetup Group

The races have been postponed due to the lack of snow, so this event is being cancelled.


What: Marmora Dog Sled Races (Marmora SnoFest)
Where: Marmora, ON - Arena in Marmora Fairgrounds (To Be Confirmed)
When: 10:00am
Bring: Camera, Winter Clothing
Cost: $4??
Additional Info:

http://marmorasnofest.ca/snofestblog/?page_id=1444

Last year, we planned to shoot the dog sled races in Cannington, but the lack of winter prevented the races from happening. The races there have been cancelled 3 of the last 4 years due to the weather, so this year I decided to post a race that is further away, with a better chance of snow. I don't know the area at all, so I chose the arena as a meeting spot that should be easy to find. It is #2 on this map:

http://www.marmorafair.org/pdfs/grounds_layout.pdf

There is a map to the fairgrounds here:

http://www.marmorafair.org/images/fairmap.gif

If anyone know the area and can suggest a better meeting spot, please let me know - I may change the meeting location. I am also looking for suggestions on the best locations (best backgrounds) to shoot the races.

at the moment I am a yes...... as far as I know at the moment, there are no other plans that weekend. and if folks need a ride ... I can accomodate.

For you folks going to the races, it is a lot of fun. As a musher and have raced in all the races named, the one with the most different type of races will be Marmora, the first weekend in February. They have sprint classes, long distance, kid and mutt and the Y2K ( 2 km race for people who have never mushed before ). They also have other activities going the same time, so there is lots to take pictures of.

For some tips.....keep off the trails as you never know when a team is coming. When taking pictures, stay back about 5 feet or more from the edge of the trail and be prepared to move quickly incase something happens. Never use a flash....Never. Find your position and stay there, don't keep moving around. There nothing worse than coming around a corner and a photographer is leaning into the trail....don't forget we are moving very fast and sometimes the trails are a little rough to manoeuvre on. As mushers, we have spent hours and hours training the team for a very quick race and would not appreciate interference from spectators. All races are cumulative times, so problems on a trail in one race kills the weekend.

Haliburton is run on a golf course, so the start of the race is ok, a fair distance to walk to the woods. Loop trail for the start and finish, balance of race with no head on passing.
Kearney starts in the middle of town, across a bridge on the sidewalk, along the sidewalk until you get out of town. The woods start 1/2 mile down the trail for the sprints, very little room to take pictures along the sidewalks. Loop trail
Cannington stars at the ball diamond, open fields, best at the finished line coming down the hill.
Marmora starts are at the fair grounds, a small open area before you go into the woods, not that far to walk into the woods, curves and small dips in the woods. Loop trail

Loop trails are ones that go out and come back on the same trail, you loop somewhere to turn around, vs a continual trail where the start and finish are different.

Sorry for ranting, but I feel it is better you be informed and understand the reasons....we love pictures being taken, but keep back from the trail. Your ideal lens would be a 70-200mm
Bonnie (bcmusher) = Border Collie Musher - started racing in 1984, still running border collies currently owning 14 of them

Really looking forward to this and I hope the weather works out. I'm getting cabin fever and need to get out and shoot again. Thanks Bonnie for all the tips! Will you be racing that weekend?

Given that the fairgrounds look to be a fairly large area, do you know where in the fairgrounds the races start? I am guessing that they start somewhere on the track, and go round the track before heading out on the rest of the course???

Do you have any suggestions as to the best place to shoot on the trail - best backgrounds,light, etc?

Having shot dog sled races once before, in Cannington, I just naturally stayed well back from the track, but I very much appreciate having that information in writing from an actual musher.

In Marmora, they have not used the track in the past for the racing. ( only exception was quite a few years ago, they had this timed elimination race, like a horse race with 2 to 3 teams of 3 dogs and they ran around the track once, all at the same time ). If they show the Marmora sled dog commercial again this year, it showed a team running this crazy race...that was me and my border collies.

They start approx. where the #7 is listed on the track, top left corner. The start and finish line are the same and it goes straight out towards the woods. The dog lot is in the bottom lower left hand corner inside the the track. So as you walk in, the dog lot is on the right....keep going straight and you will come to the start/finish line.

As for shooting, it all depends upon the weather....before you go into the woods is good as long as you stay back, there are small scrub bushes and flat land before the trees.

Bonnie

Thanks for the tips Bonnie! Great stuff. If you have a moment that day come say hi to us, just look for the photo bags with the orange luggage tags attached, that's TPMG. I had no idea border collies made good sled dogs. In retrospect it makes sense as they're high energy and super bright I just didn't make the connection. My neighbour has one, Jack, he's so bright and absolutely gorgeous.

Im up for it as long as I get a ride

I am looking for a ride as well.

I am able to provide rides as well from Toronto.

David and I can work out who is driving depending upon how many are coming. I can pick those needing a ride from Toronto.

I can pick you up from Toronto.

I can pick you up from Toronto.

Passengers for Van

1) Maureen
2) Jeniffer
3) Yesh
4)
5) Janet - David / Maureen
6) David -tentative possible driver

I'm still tentative on whether to drive or ride. It is a month away, so I'll not decide until much later.

I'm driving so far with Janet and whoever else. I didn't put the snow tires on for nothin

Im in if I can get a ride with you David. It will give me a chance to try out my painter pole photography.

It is nice that a lot of people are coming, but please I must remind you not to lean into the track or hold anything on a pole over the track or by the trail. Mushers have spent hours training, cost to feed, vet bills and just general expenses to go to races and training. Maybe you people don't know, but it cost us $ to enter the race and sometimes no money is won. Many of the dogs probably will not have experienced a lot of people around the trail, and anything unfamiliar can spook the dogs if it scares them. Just a reminder, keep back, use as long a lens you have and keep still. I don't want to see photographers get a bad image around dog sled racing. You can get special pictures by not being (seen or heard).
bonnie

So from what you say Bonnie, there will be no visible crowds there and what people there are will be hiding behind trees and under logs keeping quiet while the dogs are running. No voices will be heard or cameras clicking. Only the barking and howling of the dogs. Sounds like fun.

There will always be people along the trail at the start and finish, a few more will be between the start and the woods, not as many people walk into the woods and there are some great places to take picture there, especially around a turn, the team will be coming right at you before a turn. Just don't walk on the trail or be near the trail. From the schedule there will be teams coming and going, as some of the races may overlap....ie mid distance coming back and sprints going out. They try not to have that happen, but it does. So if a race starts there may be racers coming back in from a previous event that you don't expect. Have warm clothing, good boots as the snow will be deeper off the trail and good gloves. Take a towel/blanket to kneel/lay on as you will be there awhile and have patience, as what goes out comes back. Stay still if teams are near you until they pass.

It will be very noisy at the start as the dogs want to get going, but once they are running they are quiet, mushers will encourage the dogs and give right and left signals. If a musher yells trail, it means they are faster and the team ahead must allow them to pass, either by slowing down or stopping.

If people go into the dog lot, always ask permission before coming up to the dogs, the mushers will answers all your questions after a race. Before they are getting stuff ready, watering the dogs, getting the sled and harness/ganglines ready. Races are at 2 minute start intervals, you have a set time to be at the start line for your designated time, so it is best to approach until after a race is done.
bonnie

ps be careful when you are chimping not to breath on your viewfinder as it will fog up and you will have to wait to look through it. Have a clean cloth in your pocket just in case.

that's "Chimping" not chipping....... thanks for the tips, like I said, for some of us, this is not a first time at the dog races. I've shot a couple of them on Baffin Island with dogs that would make you think twice about approaching them. And I would suspect that we are not the only photographers there... so you can't warn everyone unfortunately.

I had the unfortunate experience of going to Algonquin Park one winter for a long weekend of dog sledding. Glad I did it once. Never do it again. No time for photo ops, whenever we stopped we had to hold the dogs and keep them from either fighting or f##king or running away with the sled. Nice country, horrible experience. Off to the side watching will be a lot more pleasant I think.

Thank you for the additional tips Bonnie! Regardless if people have done this before hearing it again won't hurt and for those that haven't it's essential to hear. Great advice from an inside source. Thank you.

I will probably drive myself, seeing as it's an elongated hope, skip, and jump from my house...

We may need a second vehicle.... but for now my van looks like:

Me
Janet
Anne
Paul (Bynx)

I could potentially take Maureen, Jeniffer and Yesh as well.... and we just all pile into one vehicle, but at 7 people - which is max, it gets really squishy, so perhaps it would be nice to have a second van Maureen. But not sure who else is looking for a ride.

I suspect Pam will need a ride.

I'm a probably for a ride as well.

I don't want to drive that distance alone, but would love to share a ride from your pick-up spot David.

So if Reimer goes with David, I can also pick up Pam and Ben/ofermod if they both need a ride. That gives us each 5 people including ourselves. So we each have 1 space left with comfortable seating.

sounds good.... that should leave enough room for gear. Reimar -- if you want to meet me at the Ajax GO station - that is probably where I will meet Janet and Anne. And then we can just swing around the corner to get Paul (Bynx)

Now what time do we need to be there for again? 10am.... and according to Google maps, we're at roughly a 1:45 minute drive from Ajax... which is probably generous given that they calculate that for doing highway speed. So if we all meet around 8:00am, that should leave us time to run into Timmies quickly and be on our way.

There is a Tim Hortons in Havelock which is west of Marmora. A new Tim Hortons is just east of the fair grounds on #7, still in Marmora