La Ronge's Riese Park was packed with mushers and their dogs on Tuesday. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

By Derek Cornet

competition

Canadian Challenge begins with premiere 10-dog race

Feb 18, 2025 | 12:05 PM

It was a freezing start in La Ronge on Tuesday for the mushers and their teams competing in the Canadian Challenge Sled Dog Race.

Eight mushers competing in the 10-dog, 322-kilometer (200 miles) race are now on the trail after leaving Riese Park beginning at 10 a.m. and departing in two-minute intervals. According to Environment and Climate Change Canada, the temperature in La Ronge at 10 a.m. was -30 C with a -35 C wind chill value.

“It’s hard on the mushers, the dogs will love it,” said race marshal Karen Ramstead.

“This is the kind of stuff they are bred for. They all have jackets on and booties. The dogs will love this kind of weather, the mushers not too much.”

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Those competing in the 322-km race, which serves as a qualifier for the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race and Yukon Quest, in order of departure include Garrick Schmidt, Craig Houghton, Leon Church, Anna Bolvin, Perry Clayton, Dan Kirkup (Canadian Challenge president), Vico Fauveau and Monroe Mondor.

Many of the mushers are returning from previous years with Clayton, an American from Power, Montana, being the 2024 winner. Houghton, from British Columbia’s Fort St. James, took second.

The races have a total purse of $15,000 with $3,179 being the top prize in the main 10-dog race.

Wednesday will also include several starts with the six-dog, 96-km (60 miles), six-dog, 160-km (100-miles), and eight-dog, 160-km (100 miles) races beginning at 11 a.m., noon and 1 p.m. La Ronge’s Ragnar Robinson is in the eight-dog race, while Derek Konga is entered in the six-dog, 96-km race.

“They all have to be finished by Thursday at 7:30 p.m.,” Ramstead explained.

“I would expect by late tomorrow afternoon we’ll probably see the winner in the 10-dog class.”

The forecast for Tuesday is calling for sunny skies with a high of -23 C during the day and a low of -36 C at night. The weather will progressively get warmer with a high of -19 C and a low of -29 C on Wednesday and a high of -15 C and a low of -16 on Thursday.

All of the mushers participating in the Canadian Challenge are wearing trackers and can be followed on the trail online here.

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com