The story of how Robinson Racing Kennel became one of the top mid-distance kennels in Alaska begins over 20 years ago in Michigan. Wally and Alissa met in high school and started dating. Wally had started a small kennel in his parent’s backyard and was determined to race with his team. He was passionate and focused and was soon racing small races in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Before long Wally got the itch to move to Alaska where the best dog teams in the world ran the biggest, toughest races. The couple graduated from high school and Wally moved to Alaska for a season of dog training. It was not long before it was obvious he wasn’t coming back to MI. Alissa finished her first year of college and started packing to move to Alaska. The following winter Wally finished the Last Great Race on Earth The Iditarod. He was hooked on Alaska and dog mushing and the couple found a small cabin to rent with the goal of making it their forever home.

Life in Alaska was never easy in those early years. The cabin was very rustic and did not have electricity or running water. Ironic because this is when Wally started his apprenticeship program with the IBEW and worked as an electrician. Wally worked on making the cabin a home by remodeling it and after a few years they got power. The dogs were a constant in their lives and there were never less than 15 in the yard. After getting married in 2004 Wally and Alissa continued to work on their careers and their property. In 2007 they welcomed their daughter Emily to the family and in 2011 Stanley was born. Soon after Wally finished installing a water system for the property. No more using an outhouse!

Emily and Stanley grew up Alaskan kids. Hunting, fishing, trapping, berry picking, and dog mushing. It was a childhood filled with river adventures after Wally decided to purchase some land on the Tanana River and build a cabin there. The kids grew up helping with chores: hauling wood, caring for dogs, and shoveling snow. As soon as they were big enough Wally built them a small sled and tied them to his bigger sled so they could go on dog training runs with him. They loved the adventure and being out with their dad.

When Emily was 12 she got the idea that running the Jr Iditarod might be fun. She had been to Iditarod race starts since she was a baby and was interested in how what it would be like to race with her dogs. She had no idea how much she would change the course of the family’s life. Wally was ready to get back into racing and Alissa had reservations but did not strongly object as she too had no idea how much life was about to change!

The family refocused all of their attention and energy to building a championship dog team. No one expected, including the family, that they would soon be running one of the top mid-distance teams in the world. The family put their heads down and worked hard. There was no time for anything but the dogs from August until March. Soon they would have a chance to race their team against some of the best teams in the world.

Emily and Wally trained hard for her to race her first Willow Jr 100 when she was 13. She placed 6th, learned a lot, and wanted to come back stronger the next season. We had a racer! Emily learned from her mistakes that first winter and focused on improving. Wally and Emily planned on running the 65 mile Ace race on the Denali Highway. This would be their second run and they would both run a team but stay together. Emily placed 6th and Wally 7th and they could see many ways to improve for next year. Emily had to wait two months to run the Willow Jr 100 and showed how much she had improved from the year before by placing 2nd. Her brother Stanley ran his first Willow Jr 100 and placed 5th even after some technical difficulties. He had to turn his team around in the trail and go back to the checkpoint with his 8 dogs. He managed the team and proved that at 11 he could handle a very difficult situation. He placed 5th his rookie year. Two weeks later, Emily was headed for the race that was her ultimate goal, the Jr Iditarod. Emily won by 6 seconds!! It was her rookie year and she squeaked out her first win! We were excited.

The next year Emily was dedicated. She knew she wanted to race and knew exactly how much work she was going to have to do. The whole family worked together through fall training on ATV’s and they knew their team was ready when the ACE race came in December. This time there was no dividing the team between father and daughter. Emily was getting the main 14 dog race team and Wally was running the yearlings. Emily managed to hang on to those dogs up and down the big hills on the Denali Highway. She finished the race but it wasn’t until hours later that we learned that she won! She had beat many big names in mushing and by an impressive 12 minutes! It was hard to believe. She went home and refocused on the Willow 150. Her first attempt at a true 150. Wally ran with her, once again running the younger dogs. It was a tough race but she won again! On to the Yukon Quest 80 which was 50 degrees colder than the Willow 150. Emily won again! She moved on to the Willow JR 100 and won and then came her second Jr Iditarod. The pressure was on to prove her team and she did an awesome job running them. She was the first female to win the Jr Iditarod twice and to win so many races in one season.

Emily was given the option by her parents to just run the two Jr races for the 2024 season. She thought about it for a few weeks and declared that not only did she want to race but she wanted to do better than the year before. It was a strange thing to say as she had won all of her races that season. How did she intend to do better? She said she knew she had won but that she had still made mistakes and she wanted to improve her skills. It took us back to see how focused and driven she was.

The 2024 season started with a second place in the ACE race. We were satisfied with the team’s performance and recognized that we made a few errors in our strategy. The team came back strong and looked so good that we decided to sign up for a race the next weekend, the Knik 100. It was a crazy week of repacking gear and shuttling dogs around Alaska. Emily went down to the Knik 100 to compete against some new adult competition. She hoped to finish in the top 5. After day one she was in 1st place by 2 min. When day 2 was over she had won by 40 min. It was a incredible performance by our dogs and Emily.

Even after her incredible win in the Knik 100, Emily was not sure she was up for running the Knik 200. It was going to be a tough race against most of the top teams in the state. She had just turned 16 and this would be the first time Jr racers had been allowed to run the Knik 200. With two weeks until race day her parents gave her a week to decide. Wally could switch out and run the race and he started getting ready. He was excited. As soon as the pressure was off and Emily felt like she had a choice she decided to race. She started mentally preparing for the biggest challenge she had ever faced.

Emily was ready but still questioning if she had made the right choice as we pulled up to the race meeting the night before the race. Looking around the room at the level of competition was intimidating and when she drew her bib she found out she was at an even bigger disadvantage as she would be leave 33rd out of 39 teams. This would mean a softer trail and less rest at the 6 hour checkpoint than the teams that left earlier in the race. She managed to sleep some but food was not an option the morning of the race. Emily and her team were focused leaving the starting line and now there was nothing we could do but watch the tracker. She let the dogs settle into a traveling speed and did not ask them for any extra speed the first 100 miles. The only stops were for very quick snacks and to add a bootie if one fell off. We had a rookie musher and the team had never run a 200 mile race so when she finished the first 100 miles we had no idea what to expect. The team came into the checkpoint and soon were barking and banging to go again. We knew they could do the second 100 miles. Emily had to do all of the chores and after an hour she went to eat and nap. She couldn’t keep food down but did manage to sleep for an hour or two.

She got up at 2 am to get ready for the second lap of the race. This would be a test of her endurance and she was mentally preparing for a tough day. The dogs smoothly left the checkpoint on-time and it was back to watching trackers. Emily was in second place leaving the checkpoint. She was behind Brent Sass and ahead of Ryan Redington both Iditarod Champions. She ran a conservative race and was in front for a while and then back into second place. She had the faster team but did not ask them for speed. Again she was letting them set a pace to travel the river and it wasn’t until the last 20 miles that she started thinking about catching Brent again. For 20 miles she chased him down. She was catching up slowly with the faster team but no one knew if she had enough speed and enough miles left to catch him. She got her team rolling and a mile from the finish line she caught him! The trackers were no longer working and it wasn’t until the dogs dropped onto the lake that we knew she had won! Emily was the first female musher to win the Knik 200 in the history of the race. She also won the Joe Redington Spirit of Alaska Award. It was an amazing accomplishment for the whole family!

The next race was the Willow Jr 100 with both Emily and Stanley running teams. Emily had 10 and Stanley had 8 of the older dogs and yearlings. Emily was in 1st leaving the halfway checkpoint and Stanley in 3rd. Stanley worked really hard for 50 miles and managed to come in behind his sister in 2nd place. It was a proud moment for the family! Emily had one more race to run and this one was the one she really wanted to win. Jr Iditarod had a strong field of twenty-one contenders. Emily was able to keep her team in top shape and they won their 3rd Jr Iditarod in a row! She tied a record that has been in place for 40 years. After her amazing season Emily was honored to accept the Trajon Langden Pride of Alaska Award for top high school female athlete of the Year! It was an honor to be recognized for her achievements in dog racing and represent young mushers.

Wally had an adventure of his own when he was asked 3 weeks before the Iditarod if he would run a team to Nome. He decided to give it a try even though the team had never been to Nome and he hadn’t run the race in 23 years! Wally is nothing if not determined and he showed where the kids have gotten their race knowledge from. He placed 11th and was awarded the Most Improved Musher Award. He also proudly accepted the Leonhard Seppala Humanitarian Award for his excellent care of the dogs.

Emily is 17 in 2025 and has big goals. In December she won the Knik 100 for a second time. Her brother Stanley finished just a few minutes behind her in 3rd place. Her next challenge was the Knik 200 and she pulled off another win to become the only woman to win the race twice! This will be Emily’s last year as a Jr musher and next year Stanley will run the Jr Iditarod. We have some big plans as a family and we hope you follow our page here and on Facebook and enjoy the adventure!