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www.sportseventsmagazine.com February 2014 23 website, is the longest running tour- nament series in the Western Hemi- sphere. Local qualifying events lead to regional championships and the World Championships. "We had our largest event ever with our championships last year, with a 20 percent increase in entries from any year in the competition's 25 years," said USDAA President Kenneth Tatsch. USDAA promotional efforts have no doubt played a role in the growth. The organization promotes dog agility as a community and spectator sport in its own right and its events as achievable by "average" dogs and handlers. USDAA offers a variety of classes and has a junior handler pro- gram for school-age children and their pets. The organization also hosts agility certification classes and pro- vides information on the sport via its website, printed materials, lectures and seminars. Tatsch said that USDAA events have detailed host venue require- ments. "Our RFP covers everything from Internet access and capabilities to housing, the quality of the surfaces for competition, and the required space, which is probably the biggest challenge. We need a minimum of five performance rings of roughly 100 x 120 feet, and we prefer to have six or seven of them. That can be a real challenge for indoor venues. Out- doors, we run into weather issues." Other necessities, according to Tatsch, include sufficient kenneling and parking space, the latter factoring into the equation for the 150 or so RV travelers coming in for an event. Last year's championship events were held at the equestrian complex at Middle Tennessee State University in Mufreesboro, Tenn. Previous championship events have been in Dick's Sporting Goods Park outside Denver and the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, as well as at the polo fields at WestWorld in Scotts- dale, Ariz., an outdoor site suitable thanks to the area's predictable weather and well-maintained grounds, according to Tatsch. USDAA officials are work- ing on the organization's 2015 events now and hope to have sites decided by March or early April. International Sled Dog Racing Association On a smaller scale, sled dog racing offers canine sports events for smaller towns in U.S. northern tier states. The International Sled Dog Racing Association (ISDRA) is, according to its website, the "oldest and largest community of organized sled dog racing in the world." Merrifield, Minn.-based ISDRA sanctions between 45 and 60 races annually, with about a half-dozen that are deemed major events by Dave Steele, executive director of the or- ganization. Sled dog racing has evolved to in- clude events that don't require snow. These "dryland mushing" events are the only ones that have seen an in- crease in participation in recent years, according to Steele. One form of it, canicross, is essen- tially cross country running with each competitor tethered to one or more dogs. Other forms include scooter- and bike-joring in which canines pull competitors on a bike or a non-motor- ized scooter. Dryland events start as early as October and run through March, whereas the major snow com- petitions start usually in late Decem- ber and run through March. The largest of these dryland events, according to Steele, may have as many as 90 teams competing, and have been revived in recent years due to the unpredictable and relatively limited snowfall that's generally been occurring lately in the northern United States and Canada. That phenomenon is also the reason for the decline in snow-dependent sled dog racing, Steele said. There is also a built-in seasonal and geographic limitation to dog sled sports, even of the dryland variety. The heavy coated dog breeds used in the sport don't handle well the rigorous exertion required of pulling sleds in the warmer winters of the central or southern U.S. Northern Maryland is about as far south as these events are typi- cally held, and there is only one such event in that state. The relative dearth of good sled dog racing venues is another limit- ing factor for wintry canine sports. "It's becoming harder and harder to find a good place where you can kennel and train a large team of dogs and all the things that go with that," Steele said. "The sport is falling victim to increased urbanization." The most successful sled dog events in the lower 48, according to Steele, are typically held in small towns of 3,000 or less. "It's a big deal for this size community to have 20 or 25 dog trucks pull in for a weekend," he said. ■ SPORT Report ▼ Robert Young © AKC. The AKC/Eukanuba National Championship at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. *21-27 SE FEB 2014_Layout 1 2/11/14 11:17 AM Page 23