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J. D. McIlhenny Jr., of Philadelphia, who in former years has raced in the annual Lake Placid Club dog derby, has expressed his intention of entering a team in the sled dog demonstrations at the Olympic Games.

Stuart H. Belknap, of Keene, who is a familiar figure in Lake Placid where he is training his team, has also filed his application with the Olympic Demonstration Dog Derby committee at Quebec. Mr. Belknap has spent several years in Alaska and is said to be an experienced musher. He will race a team of five huskies born in Hamilton Inlet, Labrador, and two huskies purchased from Earl Brydges of Lake Placid.

This is the first time in Olympic Winter Games history that this demonstration will be included in the international classic. The race will be for a distance of 25 miles a day on two successive days.

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Olympic ice sheet

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Tuesday afternoon the ice sheet was laid for the first time in Lake Placid’s new $220,000 Olympic indoor arena. While the formal opening and dedication of the arena will not take place until Saturday night, Jan. 16, Olympic figure skaters, curlers and hockey players have been working out on the ice in preparation for the III Olympic Winter Games, which open on Feb. 4.

A remarkable record was made in the construction of the Olympic arena. Ground was not broken until Aug. 20. Night and day shifts have been employed in order to have the arena ready for the Olympics. Now the building is completed and being used three weeks prior to the opening of the games.

Containing one of the largest ice sheets in the country — 100 by 200 feet — the building is well adapted for figure skating, hockey and curling. All of the Olympic figure skating and curling programs, as well as about half of he hockey schedule, will be staged in the arena.

The building will seat over 3,000 spectators.

Nine and one-half miles of steel pipe carry the brine underneath the ice floor. Going into the system, the brine is about 14 degrees and comes out at 17 degrees. It was frozen Tuesday afternoon for the first time in one and one-half hours. Distin & Wilson of Saranac Lake were the architects.

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Goodyear blimp

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Word has been received that the Goodyear blimp “Columbia” will soar over Lake Placid during the period of the Olympic games. The blimp will carry seven passengers.

It is expected that the air lanes over the immediate vicinity of the village of Lake Placid will bear some proportion to the congestion on the streets. The U.S. dirigible “Los Angeles,” which will visit Lake Placid sometime during the games, paying homage to the location of the international event, will be queen of the air while here and will have as subjects private planes bringing their owners to Lake Placid, the blimp “Columbia” as well as many commercial planes which will carry passengers to and from Lake Placid as well as those conducting sightseeing trips over the mountains and lakes.