Organizers cancel Dover-Foxcroft charity snowmobile races

Organizers of the Piscataquis Radar Runs have canceled the snowmobile races scheduled for March 2 in Dover-Foxcroft because of a lack of snow and warm weather in the forecast.

The event would have been the second iteration this winter after races took place in early February and raised $30,000, according to the event’s Facebook page. Snowmobilers were slated to compete at the Charles A. Chase Jr. Memorial Field at the airport in Dover-Foxcroft, but organizers decided that wasn’t possible with the lack of snow. They also considered racing on the frozen Piscataquis River.

This is the third year that Lindsay and Garrett Sands, owners of 207 Power Sports, and others have organized the Radar Runs, which gives funds raised through admissions and sponsorships to local organizations. Despite their intentions to start a new tradition that draws hundreds of area people, Maine’s unpredictable weather has been a consistent challenge.

“As much as I hate to do this, our second event is canceled,” Lindsay Sands wrote this week on Facebook, noting the March 2 event could not go on safely based on weather predictions.

Last year, fears about thin ice and frigid temperatures almost led the organizers to postpone the races. They moved races from the frozen Piscataquis River to the airport field because having them on solid ground would be safer, she said at the time.

The Sands, along with Darren Colbry of Colbry Enterprises and Ben Cabot of Cabot Legal Services, reintroduced the event in 2022 after it had not taken place on the frozen Piscataquis River since 2002.

More recently, they formed a nonprofit, called the Central Maine Racing Foundation, which raises funds for local children and organizations, Sands wrote in a Feb. 13 post on Facebook. She did not specify where the $30,000 raised earlier this month would go.

In 2022, organizers gave $2,500 each to the Dover-Foxcroft Fire Department and Piscataquis Valley Snowmobile Club, and the raffle raised $2,360 for the Penquis Youth Hockey Association.

Sands wrote that she is considering a grass drag event as an alternative to the March 2 snowmobile races.