Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

DEH GAH GOT'IE KOE/FORT PROVIDENCE
The organizers of the Dehcho Sled Dog Championships have declared the first year of the event a success.

Danny Beaulieu of Fort Providence comes out of the starting gate during the 10-dog race on the first day of the Dehcho Sled Dog Championships. Beaulieu finished ninth overall in the event. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

"It was great," said Danny Beaulieu, one of the event organizers.

The championships brought 18 mushers from as far away as Willow, Alaska, and Tagish, Yukon, to Fort Providence.

The races took place on March 17 and 18. Residents of Fort Providence lined the street beside the starting gate with their vehicles to watch as the mushers harnessed their dogs and set off on the track.

Two races were held each day, the six-dog six-mile race that took teams to the end of the Fort Providence access road and back and the 10-dog, 12-mile race. For the longer race, the dog teams followed the access road and then continued north along Highway 3 and back.

Beaulieu spearheaded the Dehcho Sled Dog Championships. Originally from Fort Resolution, Beaulieu was born on a trapline and learned how to run a dog team from his father.

Beaulieu had his own team as a child and started Stepping Stone Kennels in 1978 when he decided to return to trapping. In 1993, Beaulieu got out of sled dogs and restarted his kennel again last January.

Beaulieu, and his partner Susan Fleck, moved to Fort Providence last year and brought their kennel and dogs with them. The couple currently has 24 dogs.

Beaulieu used to organize the NWT Championship dog race in Fort Resolution and shortly after moving he started talking to local leaders about forming a new race in Fort Providence. The community used to have dog sled races but the last one, according to one of the participants, was in 1972.

To get funding from the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment for the race, Beaulieu and Fleck started the Deh Gah Dog Mushers Club, a registered society. The club currently has five members.

This year's race was funded with a $7,000 grant from the department and $4,000 from the Hamlet of Fort Providence.

In total there was $7,000 in the purse for the two races.

Ed Streeper of Osage, Minnesota, won the 10-dog race and $1,500 and also came in second in the six-dog race taking an additional $500.

"We're sure happy this community has decided to put on a dog race," Streeper said after the first day of races.

For Streeper, the championships marked the 10th and 11th race of the season. He'd won the previous nine, including the six-dog and open division at the 50th running of the Canadian Open Championship the previous weekend in Fort Nelson, B.C.

By coming in first in the six-dog race, Dave Johnson of Tagish, Yukon, broke Streeper's winning streak. Johnson was running a young team of mostly yearlings.

"It's nice to be here for the first race," he said.

"I like the village races. They are a lot of fun."

TJ Fordy, 18, of Fort Resolution was one of the mushers from the territory who competed in the championships. Fordy, who competed in the Arctic Winter Games at the beginning of the month, said she's happy about the new event because it's given her one more race to compete in.

Fordy said she doesn't have enough money to compete on the dog sled circuit so having a race in Fort Providence means it's close enough she can come and compete.

Fordy, who finished fourth in the six-dog race, said the track was soft on the first day.

"They did the best they could," she said about her team.

Beaulieu said the number of mushers participating in the championships surprised him. He hopes to make the championships an annual event and draw even more participants next year.

Beaulieu also has other plans for promoting dog sled racing in Fort Providence. He would like to work with Behchoko to host a race between the two communities that would be done in stages over the course of four days. The course would follow the route travelled by dog teams as part of the mail run. Beaulieu's great-aunt Catherine Beaulieu Bouvier was one of the mushers who traversed the route.

Beaulieu and Fleck have also been working with high school outdoor education classes at Deh Gah School. Students have been learning about caring for and handling sled dogs although they aren't ready to run the dogs yet, said Fleck.

The goal is to get one or two youths interested in dog sled racing and prepare them to compete in the Arctic Winter Games in two years time, she said.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.