Ali Staniforth was born into sled dog racing, and ever since she could walk, she’s been running her family’s Alaskan Malamutes in dryland races.
At the tender age of three, Ali entered her first race.
This year, as the Canberra Dog Sled Club celebrates its 30th anniversary and Ali turns 22, she reminisces about her unique childhood.
“I spent every weekend in winter growing up out at Kowen Forest and around the dogs,” she said. “There were quite a few of us kids growing up at the same time in the sport and once I could stand up, they have this class called ‘peewees’ for young kids.
“When you’re not super confident on a scooter by yourself, you stand at the very front of the footplate on the scooter, hold on to the handlebars as high as your arms can reach, and a parent is behind you controlling the brakes and the movement of the handlebars.
“I still remember the excitement of being old enough and tall enough to stand and race a 500m course.”
Ali also remembers when she was five years old and part of the half-time entertainment at an ACT Brumbies game at GIO Stadium.
“There were quite a few husky teams out there but because the dogs are so used to following trails, when we put them on an oval they had absolutely no idea what was going on and there were people and dogs everywhere,” Ali laughed.
“I just remember holding on for dear life and my dad controlling everything. They were very, very confused.”
When Ali progressed to junior sled-dog racing class, she had to get special permission because she was a year-or-so too young.
“Because the people who ran the race knew me and knew my family quite well, they just allowed me to run in the junior class but I was still just in primary school in year three.”
Over her lifetime, Ali’s family has owned eight dogs (some families in the club have had more than 20).
Her parents, Jane and Andrew, joined the Sled Dog Club in 2002 (the year before Ali was born) and got their first Alaskan Malmute from founding members Graeme and Shelly Hall.
When the club first started in 1996, there were only six members but within 18 months it had exploded to more than 80 families.
By the time Ali was in high school and pursuing other interests, she somehow maintained the frosty 7am start at Kowen Forest each weekend, followed by netball training and then AFL.
“I found it the hardest when my friends started to turn 18 in Year 12 and we had 18th parties and started to go out and have big nights,” she said.
“That was when it started to get quite challenging but because it’d been such a pivotal part of my childhood and we still had friends out there, it was just so fulfilling that my interest never waned.
“The rush is always there and it still is.”
Today, Ali is secretary of the Canberra Sled Dog Club and is studying environmental science at uni – aptly doing honours in alpine environment studies.
The 30th anniversary of the Canberra Sled Dog Club Classic is on 15-16 August and hundreds of mushers travel from as far away as WA and Queensland to attend. Info: canberrasleddogclub.com
