Unlike past years, this year's dog sled races at the Festival du Voyageur are set up for a "mass start." That means that all race participants start at the same time.

"It's less confusing for the spectators," explains race manager Jim Powney about the difference between mass starting and interval starting. "Before, when someone was first across the finish line, it didn't necessarily mean they had won the race; they may have just started first. This year the first across the finish line is the winner."

The dog sled races, which take place this Saturday and Sunday, are divided into categories including three-dog teams, four-dog teams (mixed breed and purebred), six-dog teams, and 10-dog teams. Depending on the size of the dog teams, the length of the race varies as well, the longest of which is the exciting 10-mile 10-dog race.

Teams and their drivers come from all over to compete, say Powney, and they are often some of the best drivers the sport has to offer.

"Last year we had six of the top drivers in the world competing," he says.

Will they be back? Powney says he is unsure, because many drivers wait until the last minute before they register because they want to make sure the weather and course conditions are amenable to racing.  "Between -20 and -25 (Celsius) is the perfect temperature for racing," says Powney.

In the more casual category of winter dog sports will be the three-dog novice dog sled race and the 11-year-old and under junior race. "The junior race is only half a mile long because we have kids who are five and six years old and can barely hang on," laughs Powney.

Also making another appearance at this year's Festival du Voyageur is the increasingly popular sport of ski-joring and a new one for the races - kick sledding. Ski-joring has one or two dogs pulling a cross-country skier. Although popular in Europe and Alaska, the sport has only started to make in-roads in North America, and in Winnipeg as well, in the past few years. The fact it has been added to the world dog sledding championship agenda is one of the elements boosting its growing numbers.

A local group, Snow Motion Winter Dog Sports Club of Manitoba, has been around for just over a year and was created to accommodate the growing number of ski-joring and kick sledding enthusiasts plus recreational dog sledders.

Kick sledding is also a relatively new sport in Winnipeg, but a number of locals are getting into the activity. It's a sport done with one to three dogs pulling an 18-pound wooden sled made in Finland.

Danny Gillich is one of the province's newest kick sledders. He says he started last year and has been hooked on it ever since. And he isn't the only one.  "She loves it," says Gillich of his Labrador-cross dog, Schatzi. "She gets pretty excited when I get the (kick sled gear) out."

As the kick sledding coordinator of Snow Motion, Gillich gets together with the other members of the group once a week in various locations in and around the city.  "It's great socialization for the dogs, because when they aren't running, they're playing together," he says, adding he expects to be competing in the kick sled races at the Festival du Voyageur.

Gillich also says a group outing is a great motivator for the dogs because they have a tendency to work harder when there are other dogs around.  "If a dog is in front of them on the trail, they will want to catch up," says Gillich.

As for Schatzi's endurance when out kick sledding, Gillich explains with a laugh that the dog's endurance isn't the issue.  "I tire out way before the dog," he says of a sport that demands that the driver keep the sled going with constant kicks.

Both the ski-joring and kick sledding races will take place on Saturday.