This Keeps Me Sane
Becki Tucker Outlaw Ridge Sled Dogs
Interview By Liza Gardner Walsh
How did you find this activity?
My whole life has been about animals. I grew up with dogs and after high school, I worked as a vet tech in an animal shelter. One day, an elderly woman called who wanted to euthanize her 8 month old husky. When I went to see him, he was in a wire coop, surrounded by feces, no dog house, living in a hole. He stared right at me and through me and I knew he was my dog. Then I started rescuing every disaster dog until I had eight dogs, several who were hybrid-wolf mixes and I created my own team. I was living in Connecticut and we started doing wheel cart races and mini sprint races, all the while learning about teams and running dogs. Slowly, I started doing 30 mile races, then 60 mile races and then ultimately I qualified for the 250 mile race.
How long have you been doing this activity?
I became obsessed with the mushing lifestyle 20 years ago. Fifteen years ago, I fell off my ATV while training and split open my skull. That accident almost killed me, in fact it did. The hospital called my family to say that I had died but somehow I came back. That was the only year I missed a race. I have been doing the CAN AM for 15 years and have done the 250 mile race eight times.
What does it fulfill for you?
The dogs give me my purpose, they ground me. I step on those runners or climb on the ATV I use to train them, and there is no responsibility other than being completely present. I am a “full-throttle” person so it isn’t easy for me to be present in my daily life. I’ve spent my life forging though some really hard and terrible things, but when I am with my dogs that all disappears.
During the CAN AM 250 you are completely unassisted and on your own, but for me, that race is the ultimate team sport. The dogs are always teaching you something. It’s no longer in my control. You have to completely trust them. Especially because you spend four days not sleeping. You have to go with the flow and just see how it rolls. It’s a beautiful detail about how what you put in, you get back a hundredfold.
Where do you see yourself with this in the future?
I moved to Fort Kent from New Hampshire a couple of years ago. Every time I left after the race, I would cry because I felt like I was leaving my home. Finally I was able to get myself and the dogs here. I ran tours for years in New Hampshire and am getting ready to start doing that again this year after the CAN AM race in March. I’m not slowing down anytime soon. I would like to try to do the UP 200 and the Bear Grease races out west because it might be time to get out of our backyard.
How does this keep you sane?
When you love what you do, there is absolutely no feeling of work in it for me, even though I wake and up feed 27 dogs, water them, clean up after them, and then dig through the snow so they can have a path. In the winter, I wake up at 3 AM to train. When I get outside in the cold, in the pitch dark, and all I hear is the sound of the dogs breathing and the plastic runners hitting the snow, it is pure magic. It’s not a hobby, it’s a lifestyle. It’s in my soul. My dogs keep me sane and keep me in check. I can meditate all day long and nothing keeps me in alignment as much as training with my dogs.
To book a dog sled tour, visit Outlaw Ridge on Facebook or email Becki Turner at outlawridge22@yahoo.com.