Gerry Walker is last year’s reigning champion of the Canadian Challenge sled dog race.
Having competed 14 times in his career, Walker knows the race quite well.
“A big part of this race is caution in the first half. Like any marathon you don’t run too hard the first half or you pay in the last half.”
Walker expects his number one rival to be Jennifer Campeau, the musher who came in second to Walker in last year’s race.
Campeau won the 150-mile race at the Idaho Sled Dog Challenge earlier this month and she hopes to snag first place at the Canadian Challenge this year.
“I’m not going to lie, I’m hoping to. But I have a schedule laid out and I go on how my dogs are doing.”
Both Walker and Campeau have young, new dogs on their teams this year which could slow them down - but for Campeau learning how her young dogs race is a big part of the excitement.
“You just see who your superstars are on a 300-mile race because it’s a lot longer. You see who has more heart.”
All eight teams competing in the 12-dog race took off from Elk Ridge on Tuesday and will follow the trail over the next four days. The race finishes in La Ronge on Saturday.
An earlier version of this story mis-stated the number of times Walker has competed. CTV News regrets the error.
