THUNDER BAY -- For nine years, Julia Cross has placed every ounce of trust she has on her sled dogs.
The 14-year-old will hold onto this trust as she heads to Two Harbours, Minnesota to defend her 2016 Junior Beargrease championship title during the 2017 Junior Beargrease race.
She will be guiding her six-dog team through a 78-mile race from Two Harbors to Tofte, Minnesota with one four hour check point.
“My favourite part about dog sledding is being alone in the busy by yourself in the middle of nowhere with no one around you but your dogs,” Cross said.
When Cross was five year’s old she discovered dog sledding at the Fort William Winter Carnival and she immediately fell in love.
Year after year, Cross would return to the carnival to have another opportunity to go dog sledding, but one particular year she found herself leaving with the owner’s business card.
Shortly after Cross found herself spending a lot of her free time at the White Wilderness Sled Dog Adventure kennel learning how to take care of the dogs.
“You have to trust the dogs and trust that they will lead you to where you have to go,” she said.
“If you don’t trust your dogs they will sense that and they won’t listen to you, so it’s a very challenging sport.”
There’s many challenges when it comes to dog sledding, especially, when it comes to winter survival.
Dog sledders must know how to start fires, make shelters and know how to take care of the dogs, which is the main goal of sledding.
“The dogs needs always come before yours…you take care of them first,” Cross said.
Cross received three of her own sled dogs last year, two of which are twin sisters and one of them has participated in the world’s longest dog sled race.
She said she’s always had a super strong bond with her dogs because you have to when dog sledding.
“If you don’t have a bond with your dogs, as I mentioned before, they won’t have trust in you and they won’t trust that you will take care of them,” she said.
“My bond I have with these dogs is very important to me because I need to be able to trust them…I put my life on the line for them sometimes too, so if there’s a problem or a danger I have to be able to trust these dogs.”
Cross added that each dog has their own personality and each one will do things for you that make you laugh and keep you in love with them.
This year’s Junior Beargrease race is a bit longer than last year’s race, but Cross said she isn’t worried about her dogs.
“My main worry is about the cloud conditions and weather because the weather has been the best for sledding,” Cross said.
“The weather has been so warm, so the trails have been bad…it’s been raining, so it’s not good for the dogs because its ice and you don’t want them to slip and fall.”
Cross is looking forward to being able to run with her friends and to go the extra miles.
Cross said her lifelong dream is to race in the 150-mile Junior Iditarod in Alaska, which she will be attempting next in 2018.
