Dogged determination

Subzero cold is quiet in rural Cavalier, North Dakota. The Styrofoam squeak of 19-year-old Eva Robinson’s boot against the snow sliced across the farmyard and hit the ears of 22 Alaskan husky mixes. Suddenly, a chorus of joy and anticipation.

The pack leader was here, ready for training day.

It was one week before the annual Beargrease sled dog races in Duluth, Minnesota, where Eva and her six-dog team would compete in the Beargrease 40, a 40-mile sled race along the North Shore of Lake Superior. It wouldn’t be the young musher’s first time at the Beargrease. She’d already competed twice in the Junior Beargrease 120 and brought home first place once – when she was just 14 years old.

“Yes, Eva likes to win. It was awesome when she won the Junior Beargrease,” said her father, Nodak Electric Cooperative member Justin Robinson. “But she does this because she loves to see a new adventure. The dogs love to see a new adventure, and she loves that bonding with her dogs.”

As North Dakota’s only competitive musher, Eva has been chasing races since she was 11 years old. She not only won the Junior Beargrease in 2021, but has also run the Junior Iditarod twice, as well as countless other short- to mid-distance races in Alaska and the Upper Midwest. At 19, she’s just getting started.

“I want to do the Iditarod once,” she said, referring to the famous 1,049-mile dog sled race from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska. “More people have climbed Mount Everest than have finished the Iditarod. If I can be one of the people who finishes the Iditarod, me and my dogs are going to do it.”

Just a pup

Justin and Katt Robinson, who help with the training and handling of Eva’s dogs, had an early suspicion their daughter would share their fascination with dog sled culture. The family adopted two Alaskan malamutes when Eva was two, and soon she’d be putting them to work. “She was four years old when she was first on the sled by herself, just taking one malamute to the garbage dumpster,” Katt said.

“I used to beg my dad, ‘Can we take the trash out? Can we take the trash out, please?’” Eva recalled. “It was a quarter mile away, and he would hook up our biggest malamute to go take the trash out. And he would walk with me.”

Before Eva started school, Katt and Justin were working with Cavalier’s Parent Teacher Organization to present information on the Iditarod and educate students about dog sled racing. When Eva entered kindergarten, she got to see the presentation firsthand. Her parents described the Junior Iditarod, a 150-mile race for mushers between 14 and 17 years old.

“I went home that day and I asked about it,” Eva said. “I was fired up, and I said, ‘I’m going to run the Junior Iditarod.’”

Her will to race was strong, but as an elementary student, her bank account was nonexistent. She needed dogs, sled equipment, cold-weather gear – it started to add up. Eva came to her parents with a business plan to sell dog treats until she had enough to enter the Junior Iditarod. The business, Eva Diva Puppy Snacks, was registered with the state, and as her nest egg grew and Eva began to build her team, Diva Dogs Racing was born.

By 2022, when Eva was 15 and had some races already under her belt, she headed to Alaska for her first Junior Iditarod.

The big leagues

As Eva trained on Alaska’s historic Iditarod Trail, local mushers began to take note of the young racer from North Dakota. Her host family lived within walking distance of many Iditarod finishers, and Eva quickly made connections with Iditarod royalty like Kelly Maixner, Dallas Seavey and the Berington twins (Kristy and Anna). Eventually, they would even be a source to build Eva’s team, with lead dog Skruff coming from Seavey, a six-time Iditarod winner.

“It's a very close-knit family because it's a dying sport, a dying culture, and there's not a lot of us left out here,” Eva said. “Naturally, these mushers all want to foster the youth, but they don't just stop when you turn 18.”

Eva’s first Junior Iditarod was a story of excitement, fear and resilience. She pulled the No. 2 bib, meaning she would be the first musher out of the gate. It was a huge responsibility, as all the teams to follow would be locked on to her scent.

“I remember crying to my mom,” Eva said. “We were sitting in the trailer and she was giving me a little pep talk: ‘Do you want to do this or do you want to go home?’ I was like, I spent 10 years trying to get here. I’m not going to go home.”

Eva set off with her team. The first day was flawless, with good weather and hard trails. But challenges arose. Snowmobiles accompanied the teams to protect them from aggressive moose, and even more snowmobile traffic from the area began to slow and discourage Eva’s team, who would stop at the sight of one.

Soon, one of Eva’s lead dogs started to show signs of wear. She had to make the decision to load him onto the sled and run a single-lead team, with her dog Frost at the helm. It was something she’d never attempted.

“You need an incredible amount of trust for a dog to lead a single lead, because it's just them up there and they're just listening to you. And she did it,” Eva said, emotion building with the memory. “She did it for 56 of 64 miles. For 10 hours from sunrise to sunset when we crossed the finish line, she did it.”

When Eva and her team crossed the finish line, mushers and spectators were waiting to cheer her on. Frost earned the Blue Harness award, given to the Junior Iditarod’s outstanding lead dog.

Eva and her dogs have received many awards and accolades over eight years of racing, but the thing she holds most dear is the Humanitarian Award she received at the 2022 Willow Junior 100 in Willow, Alaska. “That's voted on by all the race vets, and they say you took the best care of your dogs. I have it hanging in my room.” Eva smiled.

Forward motion

Even as a full-time sophomore at the University of Minnesota Crookston (majoring in Communications and running for the cross country team), Eva makes time on the weekends to get home to Cavalier and train with her dogs. Her parents have formed a strong support system, caring for and training with the dogs when she’s away. Eva notes it sometimes feels like she’s living a “double life,” but insists she would never trade it.

“Nothing in this life can compare to the love that these dogs give you,” she said. “These dogs have such an energy and a passionate drive to do this that it would be wrong not to. They make it worth it.”

Education has become a huge piece of Eva’s devotion to mushing. As the only musher of her kind in North Dakota, she’s been asked to speak at many events across the state, including a motivational presentation at TEDxCavalier in 2024. After graduation, she plans to bring North Dakotans even closer to the state’s mushing history. Along with her parents, she wants to establish Diva Dogs Adventure Tours in Cavalier, a one-stop place for visitors to learn about mushing and experience the thrill of the sled. Eventually, Eva would love to develop a junior program for young mushers to get their start.

Eva wants to build a mushing community in her home state. She knows all it takes is showing someone it’s possible.

“Walt Disney put it best: ‘All dreams are achievable if you have the courage to pursue them,’” she said. “I want to be able to inspire people to pursue their dreams, even though it may seem farfetched. And if I can show people that their dreams are achievable, I’m going to.”

MAIN IMAGE: Eva Robinson and her team race in the 150-mile Junior Iditarod in 2024, held outside of Anchorage, Alaska. (submitted photo)