**UPDATE SATURDAY JANUARY 18, 2020: Dog races and other activities including curling bonspiel have been moved to Sunday at the Vita and Area Winter Festival

Hundreds of people and their dogs will be sprinting across Vita together this weekend.

The annual Vita Winterfest features dog-related events such as sledding, kick sledding, and skijoring; a form of cross-country skiing with dogs.

Local Musher Rachel Courtney says it was this love of dogs and sledding that actually instigated the festival many years ago.

“The Southeast Sled Dog Club approached the RM of Stuartburn and brought up the idea of featuring these sled dog races.” She says a surprising three or four mushers live within a half-hour drive of Vita so the small community seemed like the ideal location. Vita Winterfest has since mushroomed into an attraction that brings in tourists from across the province and mushers from across the nation.

According to Courtney, dog sled enthusiasts from as far as Ontario, Quebec, Wyoming, Wisconsin, and Michigan will be in attendance. That will likely mean just under 300 dogs in one place at one time. In preparation for the big sled-off, Courtney says she has selected ten special canines out of her 37-head pack and practiced by racing her team roughly 35 miles a day. “The dogs like to run, that's not the issue," she laughs, "but usually it is difficult to stop them.”


Inwood resident Steve Diamond shares Courtney's passion for dogs and the great outdoors. For Diamond, skijoring is the sport of choice.

“It’s quite the adrenaline rush,” says the 58-year-old racer, “Those dogs have got a lot of oomf in them and sometimes off the start we could be going up to 40 kilometers per hour.”

Diamond has winnowed down his 11 dog kennel down to two that will be pulling him across the frozen prairies. Both, he says come with a very specific asset.

“My Alaskan husky is all work and no mind. He just likes to pull pull pull pull. That’s all he does. My lurcher, on the other hand, is more of the brains and the leader of the team.”

Diamond says there is no better way for a man to bond with his best friends than by speeding through the snow together. “It's a lot of fun and the dogs just love it.” He is grateful for the winter festival as there are few like it in the country. 

Diamond and Courtney will be competing in their niche events on Sunday at Vita Winterfest and both stress that anyone is welcome to come and watch.