The name Sadie Theriault may not ring any bells right now but it soon will. She has a passion for sled dogs that goes back to 2001 when Frank Thomas of the Downeast Sled Dog Club let her borrow one of his dogs to compete in a local race. She won that race and since then has gone from the one dog to four dogs competing from her hometown of Jackman, Maine, to Dawson City, Yukon, Canada, gathering 1st, 2nd and 3rd place wins, evening taking home a gold medal for the USA in the World Championship Race. All this and she’s only 16 years old.

Sadie recently spoke to a crowd of 50 people at the Nasson Community Center in Springvale, Maine. Her family, which includes mother Karen and father Norm, who grew up in the Sanford-Springvale area, were also in attendance. She brought along some of her equipment, two tables full of trophies, medals and photos and of course one of her six sled dogs, Keller.

Her presentation was a chronological series of events from that first win in 2001 to the end of this past race season. Her list of wins sounds more like a seasoned veteran than a teenager: 2002, five wins; 2003, bronze medal in an International Sled Dog Racing Association (ISDRA) competition; 2005, two gold medals in junior classes. Many of these wins occurred during several weekend excursions in the New England area.

She explained how she borrowed dogs for the first full year she raced, before purchasing her first two dogs, Abby and Noelle, from Frank Thomas in 2003. Her dogs are German shorthair pointer-Alaskan husky crosses. She said this cross results in an overall bigger dog with more stamina than the heavier, thicker coated breeds. The crosses have shorter coats but Sadie displayed a parka the dogs wear on really cold days.

Her parents, who introduced themselves as her “kennel help” have supported their daughter from the beginning, helping her with the dogs, driving her to far away races, even buying a new truck which now holds boxes in the back to carry the dogs. Sadie bought the boxes to safely transport the dogs to races. Her father even gave mushing a try before deciding it was better to let Sadie keep up the good work.

Before every race season Sadie sets a goal. They range from going faster and further to moving up from 1-dog to 3-dog classes and branching out from dog sledding to skijoring. In skijoring you’re on a set of skis with one or two dogs harnessed to a bungee line that is attached to a belt around your hips. Sadie admitted that she enjoys skijoring more than sledding although her mother doesn’t feel quite the same way!

One of the highlights of Sadie’s career thus far was the 4000-mile trek to Dawson City, Yukon, Canada to participate in the World Championship Race in 2005. The Theriault family, with dogs in their boxes out back, drove across the North American continent in the winter. There she competed in the 4-dog junior class and took home the gold medal for the USA. Remember, at this point she is not even in her teens yet.

With most sports specialized equipment is needed. Besides the dog parka, Sadie showed the group the dog booties sometimes worn to keep the dogs’ feet from freezing and/or getting cut on ice and crusty snow. She also had two sleds, a wooden-framed type and an aluminum tubular-framed model. The wooden sled is sturdier for rough conditions while the aluminum one is light and more flexible for turning into the corners. The aluminum one also had a dog bag attached to it. This device is used to hold a dog that may be tired or injured during a race. Sadie tried on the skijoring belt and bungee line to demonstrate how she’s attached to the dogs when she goes skijoring.

For Sadie, the sport doesn’t end when the last snow melts. A dog sled rig, which is a wheeled cart, is used during snowless seasons and for training before race season. Sadie starts training around September 1 and will start running the dogs about one mile per session. That will gradually increase to about 4 to 5 miles by December.

At the end of her talk she showed photos of the kennel her parents built for the dogs. The facility, called Happy Tails Kennel, has large cement floor runs for each dog. She explained some of the care practices for their dogs such as administering all their own vaccinations with exception of rabies, which has to be administered by a licensed vet. She also feeds her dogs twice a day with kibble supplemented by ground beef and chicken. The final photos were of each of her dogs – Allie, Blaze, Keller, Midnight, Riley and Tyrone – and a brief description of their personalities and what they do when they’re not pulling a sled. Lastly, she thanked her sponsor, Nooksack Racking Supply in Oxford, Maine.

With devoted parents, a good sponsor and her own self motivation Sadie should certainly excel further in her sled dog racing career. Then her name will be among those noted Maine athletes such as Joan Benoit Samuelson and Ian Crocker.

Sadie has set up a website for her kennel and racing career. Go to http://sadietheriault.webs.com/ to read about her past wins, see photos of her in action, read biographies of each of her dogs and keep updated on her progress each season.