Wolftrack Classic 2026 Recap

The Wolftrack is always such a fun race, and this year was no different!

I am so incredibly proud of the entire team for the amazing effort they put out on the race trail! We had our best run of the entire season just a few days before the race, so I knew they were ready to battle it out on the race trail. We were bib 35, right in the middle of the 6 dog race order, exactly where I wanted to be. Enough teams in front of me I could amp the dogs up by chasing down teams, but still enough behind us that we could do some other passing too.

The Wolftrack is an out and back race with a short turn around loop, so there was going to be lots of head on passing involved. I knew Demon was ready to rock all the head on passing in lead after doing so in the Gunflint just a few weeks before, but wasn’t sure how Kip would do as he’s only done a handful of passes and never in lead. We had our first pass about 10 minutes in to the race. Kip was a little unsure and came off his tug just after we passed the team. I kept encouraging him and he eventually got a tight tug again. We continued down the trail and were passed by the only team that would pass us the entire race. This pass Kip did a lot better, didn’t come off his tug and was still charging forward. As we kept travelling down the trail, with each pass he got better and better, staying more consistent on his tugline throughout the pass. This is the type of race that gives the dogs great learning experiences for just that, so many passes that they can work through any insecurities in a positive way and learn from it, and Kip did just that. By the end of the race he had done several passes flawlessly, staying tight on his tug and charging forward. Even a few that ended up being double passes, where we were passing another team and a third team was coming head on. The power duo of Kip and Demon absolutely crushed it all in lead together and I am so proud of them!

The rest of the team was also absolutely incredible. Once we hit the halfway turnaround point and the dogs were still rocking ahead, I let off the drag a bit and let them cruise down the trail a bit faster. Kip, Demon, Ginger, Jitterbug, Rocky and Topaz worked flawlessly as a team charging up every hill and around every corner, moving as one solid unit down the trail. I was so proud of the dogs and their effort throughout the entire season, a few happy tears were shed out on the trail. The dogs always gave me their all and I could not be more proud of each of them.

Cruising down the race trail!

We came in to the finish line with all 6 dogs still loping forward tight on their tug lines, charging up the slight hill at the finish at too quick of a pace for me to even help pedal up the hill. As soon as we stopped to take off my race bib, Kip did his typical roll in the snow, and JB started immediately barking and cheering to continue down the trail, the rest of the team joining in. We placed 6th out of 32 teams and I am so so proud.

Giving love to the best girls Jitterbug and Demon

It may have been the end of our race season, but it’s certainly not the end of the trail for these dogs! We will spend the rest of the season playing out in the snow, exploring new trails, and just having a blast throughout the rest of our winter (which seems to be here for awhile yet, another 20cm of snow fell last night).

The team just after passing Elena Freking less than a mile from the finish line. Photo by C. Gibbs photography

What would a race season be without some sort of dog truck issue …

Got home from the race just fine, but upon leaving to work first thing Monday morning, the truck died just 6 houses down from the kennel. Just dead. Liam was able to swing over on his way to work and try to boost it and see if that helped (it has an almost brand new battery in it), to no avail. Still dead, engine wouldn’t catch. We used the tow strap in my truck and he towed me the 6 houses back to the kennel so I could unpack all of my race gear (I hadn’t unpacked anything yet as we had gotten home quite late the night before), and wait for a tow truck. After nearly 8 hours of waiting the dog truck got towed away to a shop and is currently awaiting its fate. We shall see what the outcome is. I’m thankful for several things out of the situation - it waited to die until 1) I wasn’t in the USA 2) my race season was over 3) I didn’t have any dogs in it and 4) wasn’t too far from home. Always have to find the positives in a crappy situation!

Overall we had an absolutely amazing weekend catching up with friends and running on some beautiful trails with a beautiful dog team.

The dog truck being towed away

Thank you as always to my parents for their race support and handling, Liam for being the #1 best handler, and Brian Bergen for lending me two dogs - Topaz and Rocky.

Thank you to everyone who cheered us on all season and supported me and the dogs. We have lots of exciting plans in the works and I can’t wait to share!

Happy Trails!!