FORT KENT, Maine – In 2023, Katherine Langlais made Can-Am history by becoming the first woman to win the 250-mile sled dog race. After last year’s race was cancelled due to a lack of snow, Langlais is looking forward to returning to northern Maine for the upcoming race on Saturday.
“I feel nervous because I didn’t run it last year,” she said, “so it’s a little more fresh, but I am feeling really good about going back.”
Langlais said that she and her partner Remy Leduc have participated in some smaller races, but the Can-Am will be their longest of the season.
She said they begin training between July and August.
“We start off with small mileage when it’s warmer, and then we up the miles,” Langlais said. “I was doing 30 miles during my runs in October, which was relatively long for that time of the year.”
After training for several months, Langlais said the dogs are definitely ready for the big race.
“I have a lot of young dogs as well this year, so for a few of them this is going to be their first race,” she said.
And while Langlais is the most recent champion, she said she’s not putting any unnecessary pressure on herself.
“I don’t go there expecting that I’m going to be winning,” she said. “I do know I have a good team, but I hope everybody is a winner in every race, regardless of positioning.”
She said that finishing the lengthy race is a victory in itself for any team.
“I know I’m returning as the champion, but I’ll be happy with any position I come in,” she said.
Langlais has been mushing since 2007, but has had an interest in the sport since she was seven years old.
“I went on a sled dog team and I just loved it,” she said. “I’ve always been driven by anything that has to do with animals and animal sports.”
She adopted a retired sled dog when she was 13 years old. When she was 20, she met Leduc while working at a tourism company, and they have had dogs ever since.
They now have 43 dogs, 27 of which are being trained.
Langlais and Leduc have traveled as far as Alaska for sled dog races. In 2019, they participated in the Yukon Quest, which is 550 miles.
Langlais, who is traveling from Glenwood, New Brunswick, said it will be nice to travel just a couple hours away for this race. She said Fort Kent is only about two and a half hours away.
“It’s really familiar terrain for us,” she said. “We train in the mountains. It’s the same climate. It’s really the same region. So that’s why the Can-Am is just like going home, because it’s basically the same type of thing that we do, and the same type of trail.”
Langlais and Leduc have been going to the Can-Am since 2011. She said Leduc started with the 60-mile race, but they both worked their way up to the 250 mile race. Langlais has been running the 250-mile race since 2017.
She said the most challenging and important part of the race, aside from the mountainous trail, is ensuring that the dogs are doing well.
“It’s important that you pace them and they don’t go too fast,” she said, “and that they’re not dehydrated or anything like that, because our dogs have a tendency of working really hard.”
Langlais said they are always checking to ensure that their dogs are well-fed and completely hydrated.
The physical challenge of the race is one of Langlais’ favorite parts of the event. She said she often runs up the mountains alongside her dogs throughout the race.
“That’s what I really like most about this race,” she said. “It’s challenging for the dogs, but it’s also challenging for me, and I feel like I’m accomplishing something physically.”
At a certain point, fatigue sets in, but Langlais said getting a second wind after pushing beyond her normal limits can help with staying awake.
“Once you push that limit, you get an adrenaline rush mixed with endorphins,” she said. “And you kind of want to give more and more. It’s just like a drug. Once you reach that point, it’s like you’re more awake than you were at first.”
Even though she’s currently dealing with a cold, Langlais said she can’t wait for that feeling of simultaneous exhaustion and accomplishment that comes with crossing the finish line.
“I live for the Can-Am,” she said. “Throughout the year, this is what I live for, this type of challenge — to be able to say I can do it again, and that I can give 100 percent of myself and feel completely accomplished at the end of the race.”
