HELENA — Jesika Reimer and her team of dogs will be competing in the Race to the Sky.
Reimer has been mushing for eight years and counting but this is her first Race to the Sky 100. She's traveled all over the country alongside her 12 dogs to compete in sled dog races.
"It's a different format that we've never seen or run before. So, you know, the nerves are a little bit there again being like, well, how are they going to like a 50-mile run but it's just fun being out there," said Reimer.
On Thursday, she stopped at C R Anderson Middle School in Helena. Students are using the Race to the Sky to learn about topics ranging from the science of sledding, depictions of sled dog racing in literature, and even the local history of the race and its ties to Camp Rimini.
The students also got a chance to meet the dogs as well.
"It was really it was a lot more relaxing and fun to, like, get out of class and do something fun because, like, get a break. Yeah, get a break from your regular schedule," said Rheagan Harlow, a C R Anderson student.
It's not only a nice break for the students, but for the dogs as well.
"We sometimes just go for ten or 20 miles and then coming to school like this, like physically, it's not a lot for them," said Reimer, "but mentally it's huge because it's not something they normally do. So it's, it's, yeah, it's, it's nice for them to see people and get a different sort of mental stimulation."