This will mark the third year in a row Ragnar Robinson has competed in the Canadian Challenge. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

By Derek Cornet

local musher

Robinson nearly ready for eight-dog Canadian Challenge race

Feb 13, 2024 | 5:00 PM

La Ronge’s Ragnar Robinson is almost prepared for the Canadian Challenge Dog Sled Race next week.

He’s preparing for his third race in recent years, having competed in the 10-dog race in both 2022 and 2023. In 2022, Robinson was forced to scratch from the race, while in 2023 he placed fourth.

This year, Robinson is set to compete in the eight-dog, 164-km race from La Ronge to Missinipe and then back to La Ronge. The eight-dog race will start Feb. 22 at noon at La Ronge’s Riese Park.

“My dad is just slowly getting out of dogs, so last year we had 25 dogs in the yard and, this year, we only have 12 dogs in the yard, so we don’t quite have enough dogs to run the longer race,” he said.

“I’ve been trying to get in as much training as possible. We’ve had to train with the quad quite a bit, just because there hasn’t been much snow until recently here. We’ve been training quite a bit. Not as much as last year, just because of the snow.”

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The lack of snow has caused multiple races in both Canada and the United States to cancel. That means there’s been an increase in the number of mushers competing in the Canadian Challenge this year that usually don’t participate.

In total, there are 13 mushers competing in the 10-dog, 328-kilometre race, 12 mushers in the eight-dog race and three in the six-dog, 80-km race. There will be a total of $25,000 in prize money up for grabs.

“It will be awesome to just have a bigger field of mushers,” Robinson said.

“It seems like it’s more than double the size compared to last year, so a lot more competition and I’ll get to meet more people. It will be fun.”

Leading up to the race next week, Robinson plans on doing one longer run on Wednesday and then give his dogs some time to rest. He’ll also be working on getting organized with all the gear he will need and snacks for the dogs.

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com

by Derek Cornet

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Robinson nearly ready for eight-dog Canadian Challenge race

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