World Dog sled mushers Kevin Cook and his father Raymond Cook, and with the support of their families, are busy preparing for another season of racing. It is with heavy hearts and much sadness that they realize that the time has come to end their reign of dog mushing.
“We have a lot of emotion about this season,” said Kevin Cook. “With the realization that between my health problems and my dad getting older it is time we end the tradition of Cook Kennels and dog mushing. Times have changed from when racing was a way of life for us and it helped to pay the bills but now the races are not what they used to be. It is financially draining and very time consuming and we just don’t have it in us anymore. We have slowly started selling dogs and have down sized from 100 to 60 dogs with no new pups being kept this year.”
The Cooks started training their dogs in September when the temperatures got cooler and it is easier to cover a three-mile stretch daily with the distances increasing over the months. The Cooks will be racing in two main races in Alaska this year as well as Grand Rapids and Preeceville.
The Cook Kennel began its reign in 1927 when Ken Cook, Raymond’s dad, began using dogs on the trap line. After Ken’s death all the responsibilities for the dogs were left to Raymond. In 1967, he entered his first race in Fort Qu’Appelle, coming in second from last. It did not deter him from racing. He kept racing and learned a lot over this years of racing. It was from that experience that propelled Raymond to win six world championships in 1983, 1987 and 19911994. His son Kevin Cook would go on to win numerous world dog sled championships. Kevin’s entire family, including his wife Rhonda and their two children, also had taken up the passion for racing but through time the interest faded to leave only Kevin, Rhonda and Raymond racing.
“It has been a very difficult decision to give up racing but it is necessary,” said Cook.
