Florian Philip to France for Lekkarod 2022

We are raising funds to help Florian travel from Alaska to France and participate in the #Lekkarod skijoring stage race in March of 2022. Florian will be the youngest of 54 participants from 9 countries currently entered in the race. This will also be an opportunity for him to see his French relatives that he has not seen for three years because of COVID.

Follow our progress on our Facebook page. 

My name is Florian; I am 13 years old, live 25 miles outside of Fairbanks, and have already finished the Lekkarod once. I am a seventh-grade student at the Watershed charter school in Fairbanks.

I have been skijoring for eight years, done over fifteen races, including racing in the 25 miles Tanana River Challenge three times, finishing third last year. The donations will help with dog kennel purchases, travel Fares, entry fees, lodging, and more.

My dad Jacques who will travel with me will be my coach and handler. He is an accomplished musher and skijorer. He finished the #Iditarod 7 times and completed many other races on three different continents. He even took a dog team to the summit of Denali , the highest mountain in North America. I have already done many adventures with him and my mom, like building a cabin in remote Alaska, caribou hunting in the Brooks mountain range and more. Three years ago, I participated in the #Lekkarod, mostly following my Dad. Now I want to compete on my own.

We run our dogs for about ten miles, three to four times a week, alternating between one and two dogs at a time. The Lekkarod is different from the local races because the environment is so different; at the local races, there are not many people, the trails are very small, and race mornings are usually pretty cold. The Lekkarod is later in the day, with very many people, warmer temperatures and extremely wide trails. I enjoy the race because the people there are very nice, and being in places that are so different helps my dogs. The Lekkarod will be difficult for me and my dogs because the trails may confuse the dogs if they do not know where to go. The journey will take us from Fairbanks to Seattle where we can take the dogs out for a walk, then to Paris, an 18 hour trip all together. From there, we will rent a van and drive 400 miles to the Alps.

We will take two dogs with us, but we are training four right now, all three years old females. Their names are Vibe, Leia, Aviva, and Rey. Vibe and Leia are the most likely to go to France, Aviva and Rey will be backup dogs.

Leia and Rey are two sisters that came from our friends Chuck and Tracey who are mushers from the Kotzebue area in Northwest Alaska. They are named after the two famous female characters in Star Wars. We also nicknamed them boxing dogs because they act like kangaroos and like to box us to get attention. Leia is very friendly and Rey is more on the shy (but not dark) side. Both have run several skijoring races with Florian. Leia is a favorite for skijoring because she is more powerful than her sister.

This is Aviva; she comes from Jay Kadzow’s kennel. Jay is a musher from Fort Yukon in interior Alaska who has run the Yukon Quest. She is a very fast little dog, but not very powerful which is why she is not a favorite for the #Lekkarod where one can run only one dog at a time. She has run many races with Florian though.

Vibe is the latest addition to our kennel. She comes from Annie Malo and Marco Rivest in Quebec and although she has run many sled dog races, she has not done any skijoring before this year. She is very fast and powerful, but rather shy. We are working on getting her used to the specific challenges of skijoring, like running without her team mates as sled dogs are pack animals and generally would rather run as a team.

The Lekkarod is a stage race modeled after to the Tour de France, but for sled dogs. It has skijoring and mushing categories over 9 days, one stage per day from March 12 to 20. The race is run in three different locations of the French Alps. The philosophy of the race is built around respect of the dogs, the people and nature. In the skijoring category, a skier and one dog work together to complete a 20 to 40 km course each day. Each skier has a pool of two dogs so that the dogs don’t have to run every day. A team of veterinarians carefully checks the dogs every day and they are only allowed to run if they are found to be fit for it. Procedures to prevent COVID infections are also in place, and there is even a team of COVID detection dogs with their handlers for early infection detection. Yes, dogs with their fantastic sense of smell can detect COVID, provided a special training and protocol. Dr. Dominique Grandjean who is also the Lekkarod race director is conducting research on the topic . The race organizers post a summary each stage daily on their YouTube channel and the French television broadcasts some excerpts of the race.

The total budget for two people and two dogs is estimated at $8,672 and our goal for this fundraising it $7,000. Here are some of the expenses that this would cover:

Round trip airplane tickets Fairbanks-Seattle-Paris (2 people): $3,400

Excess luggage for 2 dogs and equipment (round trip): $1,400

2 air kennels: $360

Van rental: $1,120

Gas/tolls: $784

Lodging: $784

Entry fee: $224

Veterinary certificates and formalities: $600

We hope that you will follow Florian’s progress in march. Thank you for your support, make sure that you share this post widely.

May the force be with Florian and his dogs. 

Florian and Jacques

Follow our progress on our Facebook page.