Father-daughter duo Gerry Walker and Dee Eaves are seen moments before crossing the finish line. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

By Derek Cornet

family affair

Father-daughter duo finish Canadian Challenge a paw-length apart

Feb 22, 2019 | 4:46 PM

It was a moment to hold on to for the Walker family of Pierceland, as a father-daughter duo finished the Canadian Challenge 12-dog race in La Ronge only seconds apart.

Gerry Walker and his daughter, Dee Eaves, departed Elk Ridge three days ago on a 500-kilometre competition traversing over frozen lakes and rocky landscapes. The duo travelled together and rarely lost view of one another throughout the race, before they passed the finish line around 2 p.m. today and received a winner’s welcome. Surrounded by family and friends, they posed for a quick photo before race officials and veterinarians inspected their dogs and sleds.

“Anytime you can do something like that with one of your kids, it’s got to be special,” Walker said. “After 2006, she said she was never going to run it again … but she finally decided she did want to do it one more time.”

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Walker and Eaves have been training together leading up to the Canadian Challenge at the family farm on the edge of the Meadow Lake Provincial Park near Pierceland. Eaves would travel from her home in Hillmond to the farm on the weekends when she could, and together they prepared the dogs for this year’s race. The dogs from both of their teams were intermixed during training, so they knew each other well and had similar experience.

Walker was last year’s 12-dog champion and has won the competition four times. He noted during the race, he and his daughter enjoyed the scenery of the northern part of the trail past Sucker River as it crossed over lakes and through portages.

“We ran most of it in the daylight,” Walker said. “There was not a cloud in the sky and the sun was bright. They should be making a movie of that.”

Gerry Walker and Dee Eaves are joined by their dog handlers for a photo. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

Eaves, who beat Walker by only a paw-length to earn third place, stated the end of the race was a photo finish and she was happy to complete the event alongside her dad. She also gave thanks to dog handler and sister Penny Bailey, while Walker’s handler was Eaves’ husband, Mike Eaves.

“We’ve been running altogether the whole race, so it wasn’t like one of us was running away from the other one,” she said.

With Randy MacKenzie and Anna Bolvin scratching out of the race due to welfare concerns for themselves and their dogs this morning, Coady Lee of Nova Scotia was the only remaining musher still on the trail as of 4 p.m. He was about 32 kilometers from La Ronge and should arrive in the next few hours.

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derek.cornet@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @saskjourno