An avid athlete, Elizabeth P. Ricker took up dogsledding and hosted sled dog races starting in 1926 at Poland Spring Resort, operated by her husband's family.

In 1927, Ricker was the only woman enrolled in the Poland Spring race. The Portland Evening Express noted “All of her dogs except her lead dog are offsprings of Chinook, the famous lead dog of the winning team of last year owned by Arthur T. Walden….”. Ricker came in last due to problems with her team running after a skunk, and later becoming entangled. Newspapers reported Seppala stopped to help Ricker with her sled, The Boston Globe noted Seppala left his team unattended, “this, in itself was a feat impossible to a driver who hasn’t his team under almost superhuman control.” After he held Ricker’s sled while she untangled the dogs, and risking his first placing in the race, Seppala yipped to Ricker’s dogs to follow his team.

By 1930 Ricker came in second, winning the first 25 mile run and besting Seppala’s 1927 record by 5 minutes 31 seconds. She lost the race, coming in second to Seppala after the second run.

Elizabeth Ricker and sled dog champion Leonhard Seppala later began a kennel to breed the Seppala sled dogs at Poland Spring.