Velocity and acceleration play an important role in dog sled racing. A musher entered in an important race like the famous Iditarod does not enter the race to lose. If he were intent on winning, he would be a 400-lb man with only two dogs to pull him through the course. Thus, in order to win a race, a musher must consider the velocity he must travel at during the course of the race. The musher will also want to use more dogs during the race because he will have more power and strength. However, the more mass a sled has, more time will be required to accelerate it to the desired velocity. A musher must consider the distance of the trail, the desired time he wants to finish in, the acceleration, and the initial velocity. To figure out the acceleration needed, a musher can use the formula:

x=v*t+(a*t^s)/2, where v is the initial velocity.