Wisconsin Snowmobile Championships at Dorchester

Plenty of challenges were presented at the Official Wisconsin Snowmobile Championships on Dorchester Lake on Saturday, Jan. 27. The temperatures approached 40 degrees during the event, creating slushy conditions on the ice and eventually cutting the event short.

On top of the slushy conditions, another situation arose due to the warm weather. Goose dung was found on the surface of the ice as the top layers of ice melted to give way to layers that had been built up earlier this winter.

After the event, Michelle Socwell, one of the event organizers, said 14 of the 25 events were able to be run before safety concerns cancelled the rest. Paul and Michelle Socwell decided to cancel the rest of the event after accidents had occurred during some of the races.

“This isn’t what we wanted, of course,” Paul Socwell said in a video update. “We got a lot of our races in but for safety’s sake, we had to pull the pin.”

Socwell said the event could have gone better but he was proud that they were able to have some sort of event despite the lack of cooperation from the weather. He said thank you to those that attended and said people were very understanding about the situation.

“I’d like to thank everyone for coming. Thank you to our sponsors. We appreciate your trust in us. Thank you to the racers that came out. We received a lot of understanding from people. We appreciate that very much.”

Socwell said he was happy with the spectator turnout and hopes to be back and better than ever in 2025.