All About the Dogs

McCall musher Kevin Daugherty, winner of 2023 Warm Lake Stage Race. PHOTO BY MELISSA SHELBY PHOTOGRAPHY.

The Idaho Sled Dog Challenge Unleashes the Spirit of Community

BY APRIL THOMAS WHITNEY

When the aluminum runners of his sled cut across the finish line at the end of a two-day, 52-mile race, Kevin Daugherty was not thinking about his physical discomfort, the challenges of the snowy course, or trophies and personal accolades. He was thinking about his dogs.

The 33-year-old McCall local took first place in the 2023 Idaho Sled Dog Challenge’s Warm Lake Stage Race by a margin of more than ten minutes. It was his first victory in a dog sledding event, but Daugherty said that to get a true measure of his success, he had to take a close look at each member of his eight-dog team.

Jessie Royer crosses the finish line in 2020.

PHOTO BY MELISSA SHELBY PHOTOGRAPHY.

“To me, a happy dog looks like they want to run some more. Tails wagging, you can see smiles on their faces,” said Daugherty. “Winning is just a byproduct of how you train. If you talk to any dog musher, they’re more excited about how their dogs are finishing, if they’re happy, and winning is just a bonus.”

Daugherty runs a comparatively small kennel—just ten dogs total—and they do an average of four training sessions per week in the West Central Mountains. Those four-hour training runs typically take place in the dark, after snowmobilers have left the trails, and Daugherty said it’s those solitary moments—alone in the darkness with only his thoughts and his dogs—that got him hooked on the sport of dog sledding.

McCall musher Kevin Daugherty, winner of the 2023 Warm Lake Stage Race.

PHOTO BY MELISSA SHELBY PHOTOGRAPHY.

“There’s just something about feeling like you’re away from everything but also feeling like you’re in it,” he said. “It somehow makes everything else make sense, makes your problems seem smaller. Reminds you what’s important.”

Nicole Lombardi embraces one of her dogs after winning the 2022 100-mile continuous format race.

PHOTO BY MELISSA SHELBY PHOTOGRAPHY.

What’s most important to Daugherty at this point in his five-year-old dog sledding career is to figure out how he can best treat his dogs so they can reach the next level. At some point, he’d love to compete in a big race like the Iditarod, but he and his team have a lot to learn and a long way to go before he would consider competing at that elite level.

When it comes to caring for his dogs, Daugherty has already learned that nutrition is #1. Training the dogs for the specific type of work they’ll do in a competition is also key, whether that involves hill training or speed training, or in Daugherty’s case, nurturing a close bond with his small team. “Without your team wanting to work for you, you just don’t have a team,” he said.

While it can be a solitary sport, teamwork among humans is crucial when it’s time for competition; from the local volunteers who fan out across impossibly long racecourses, to the community of mushers who travel to far-flung mountain communities to compete. “They’re the most caring people you could ever imagine,” Daugherty said. “People who spend a lot of time in the woods have a different perspective on what life’s about; they don’t sweat the small things.”

Sled dogs at race finish in 2022.

PHOTO BY MELISSA SHELBY PHOTOGRAPHY.

The five-year-old Idaho Sled Dog Challenge features three different races— the 52-mile Warm Lake Stage Race, a 100-mile race, and the premiere event—a 300-mile race. It also features world-class mushers. That’s because the Idaho Sled Dog Challenge is the only 300-mile Yukon Quest qualifier in the lower 48 and one of only three such events for the Iditarod.

“Mushers will tell you this is a very, very atypical race,” said event co-founder and trail coordinator, Dave Looney. “Our elevation change is 39,000 feet, which is greater than the Iditarod. They call it a 500-mile race packed into 300 miles.”

That means dog care, pacing, and attention to the terrain are critical to success in this event. So is trail maintenance. The trails used for the ISDC are part of a 500-mile network of snowmobile trails groomed by Valley County during the winter months.

This year’s roster boasted Iditarod and Yukon Quest veterans, including two-time ISDC 300-mile champion Jessie Royer. Born in Idaho and raised on a Montana cattle ranch, Royer is considered one of the mushing world’s top contenders, placing third in the 2019 and 2020 Iditarod competitions and in the event’s Top 10 for the last eight years running.

Royer won the inaugural 237-mile ISDC race in 2018 and the 300-mile race in 2020. She also came out on top this year, continuing a rich tradition of female ISDC champions, including Josi Thyr from Montana, Canadian musher Jennifer Campeau, and Council, Idaho’s Laurie Warren.

Musher Josi Thyr passes through Smith’s Ferry on her way to victory in the 2022 300-mile continuous format race.

PHOTO BY MELISSA SHELBY PHOTOGRAPHY.

“The women that are racing right now are very, very good dog runners,” said Daugherty. “I look at them, and I’m like, ‘What can I learn from how they run their teams and incorporate it into my team?’”

Daugherty said it will be some time before he’s ready to compete in a longer race like the ISDC 300. He’s tackling a 150-mile race this spring and plans to work his way up from there. Still, the appeal of competing for Daugherty isn’t about glory and achievement. “I don’t run dogs to win trophies,” he said. “It’s about being out with animals you love and being out in the woods.”

The sixth annual Idaho Sled Dog Challenge is set for January 24 through February 1, 2024. www.idahosleddogchallenge.com