At the age of 52 – and after 21 years of competing in harness dog sports – Algonquin Highlands’ Karen Koehler recently won her first-ever gold and silver medal at an international competition held in the U.S.
Koehler took part in the International Federation of Sledding Sports 2025 Dryland Championships in Minocqua, Wisconsin in late October – capturing her first world podiums.
And she did it without her beloved dog Zillion, who passed away this past spring unexpectedly at the age of three-and-a-half years.
Instead, Buncho, at nine, led the charge to gold in canicross – where the trainer and dog run together with the dog out front pulling the trainer along. And, Really, who just made the age qualifying limit, helped with the silver, in bikejoring, where dogs run in front of a bike, pulling it forward using bikejoring equipment.
“When I lost Zillie, I actually didn’t know if I would be able to do very much at worlds, but I applied for all the classes,” Koehler said in a recent interview at her home.
She started training with Mighty for canicross, but the dog’s back was hurting. She had never used Buncho for the discipline, thinking he would not like it. “He’s a very fast dog; he loves to bike. He loves skiing.” She worried he would want to be speedier on the running course.
But she started training with him, anyway, doing a slow build. “We were just at the right distance when we got to worlds in our training, 3.7 kilometres.
“Then you get to worlds, and you’ve got these obscene hills.” Koehler said it was fine going up, but coming down another story. There was mud and she feared she was going to crash. But she stayed up, thanks to strenuous training. “So, I stayed on my feet. I do not know how. Half my body was that way, I was sliding.”
On the penultimate day, she started bikejoring first, which gave her an idea of what the course would be like. That garnered the silver. It was day two of canicross, and she and Buncho were able to retain their lead for gold. All along, she had to protect a hamstring she injured years ago.
“It was something. I was so proud of myself. On the podium, I was blubbering. And they played the Canadian national anthem. It was just so crazy. Never had a world podium; the same day I had the silver and gold. It was just such a dream come true.”
She said between the challenging course, the biking, her age, and being mindful of her hamstring, “I was so happy with how everything came together. I had to work for it. I had to be so careful with my training.”
She was also proud of Buncho, at nine, and having come back from an injury two years ago.
“I was not sure if he would have to retire, but he has told me, clearly, he does not want to. He is perfect for where I am now. My first dogs that lived to 16 and 18 told me very clearly when they were done. It was just a sad look one day when we harnessed up, like I am not into this anymore, and that is when we stopped. They won’t run if they don’t want to. And when they want to run you know it. It is in their whole body and manner.”
