Dog mushers are at it again.

The first Hot Hounds Dryland race of the 2011 season, sponsored by Cadence Cycle, is set to be held at Drag ‘N' Fly Kennels on the Old Alaska Highway 5 p.m. Sunday.

Organizer Jonathan Lucas said the Hot Hounds usually hit the trails earlier in the summer.

"We haven't had one and people have been asking about it. Normally we put the first one on in May and people are still a bit jaded, and by June or July they get a bit more excited, so we're expecting there to be a good turnout,” Lucas said.

These races have attracted up to 40 competitors in the past, he added.

Sunday's race will start with the one and only Firstmate Extreme Summer Freight Pull where there will be 18 bags of Firstmate Extreme dog food up for grabs.

The freight pull will feature light, medium and heavy weight classes of dogs.

In the event, dogs will pull a trolley piled with bags of dog food, Lucas explained.

The last dog pulling wins, though the top three winners in each group stand to win dog food.

"That's really where the dogs are purely the stars. If they don't want to pull, they're just going to sit and look at you,” Lucas said. "They do like to pull. I just have to pick the harness up and show it to one of my dogs and say, ‘Are you keen?' and she's leaping all over me,” Lucas said.

Other categories include a two-to-four dog two-mile race, a one-dog one-mile race, a pet dog one-mile race and a one-mile canicross.

Lucas said the pet dog means just that. No exceptions.

"I have to stress: the pet dog isn't a retired sled dog, it isn't a young sled dog in training, it isn't a sled dog that isn't doing very well and needs to have a little bit of fun with the pets.

"When you set them against each other, the pet dog people are not going to win, ever – that's the point of the pet dog race.”

The cost is set at $10 for a mushers first race and $5 to enter in each subsequent event.

The races will be followed with a potluck BBQ.

As with all the Hot Hounds races, the first one of the year is especially social, Lucas said.

"Probably the last time most of us saw each other was at the last winter races back in February or March.

"If we get 30 people out to try this out that'll be great. It's all fun, it's not serious. It's a two-mile fun race. It's more about getting the dogs out to run again and mix with other dogs, in the same way that humans are mixing. It's a big social event for everyone,” Lucas said, adding that the dogs enjoy it as much as the mushers.

"It's great to bond with them in the kennel, but when they see the harnesses and when they see the scooter coming out, they're going ballistic, jumping up and down.”

Lucas failed in his attempt to retire as organizer of the Hot Hounds and the Copperhaul Twister League race series.

Lucas stepped down last winter to focus on racing in the Yukon Quest 300 and the

Percy de Wolfe Memorial Dog Sled Race.

"We're just trying to get out of it,” he laughed. "You're whole life is regimented. You know you have to go out for so many runs for so much duration, and that's it. I worked and ran dogs – that's all I did last winter. I didn't even drink very much.

There's no point in drinking when you got to get up at six o'clock.”

Luckily for Lucas, other organizers have signed on to take the reins of the next few races in the series.

For more information, visit www.dpsay.wordpress.com or www.copperhaultwister.blogspot.com.