Monthly Archives: October 2024

20 — Mike Fields from Circle, Alaska. Age 41. Mike began mushing and racing at a very young age and has been involved in sprint racing ever since. He’s a US Army combat veteran, and also a retired Laborers’ Local 942 worker. He works as a carpenter and heavy equipment operator for Operating Engineers Union 302. Mike is also a… Read more »

19 — Stéphane Roy from Sainte-Anne-de-Madawaska, New Brunswick, Canada. Age 34. Born and raised in Sainte-Anne-de-Madawaska, Stéphane started dog sledding at the age of five, and it became a daily activity. In the last three years he’s competed in the Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Race, La Chic-Chocs 40 (first place, 2024), Defi Lotbiniere Nahak (second place, 2024), and… Read more »

18 — Sean Hildreth, Bend, Oregon. Age 30. Sean began mushing in 2018 with Alpine Adventure Dog Sledding (Austin Forney’s kennel in Leadville, Colorado). “The first day of training I fell in love with the dogs, and the musher life,” he says. In 2022, Sean began working for Rachael and Jerry Scdoris at the Oregon… Read more »

17 — Łukasz Paczynski — Swieradow-Zdroj, Poland. Age 45. Łukasz began sprint racing in 2007 in the Siberian husky class, and took third place World Championship. Then he took on middle distance racing in Europe. Last year he competed in the Norway Trail race (International mid-distance), IFSS third place World Championship, and later the 2024… Read more »

16 — Dave Hochman, Carlowrie, Manitoba, Canada. Age 59. Dave saw his first sled dog races at the Festival Du Voyager in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1979. Afterwards, he convinced his mom to allow him three dogs, and that launched his mushing career. During the summer months, Dave is a provincial park maintenance worker. When not… Read more »

15 — Leonie Tetzner, Burg Germany. Age 14 and 10 months at race time. “I race and train dogs, mostly open teams since I can stay on runners,” says Leonie, an enthusiastic, first time Stage Stop competitor. Leonie started running dogs when she was 4 years old. In Europe, she’s a bit of a media… Read more »

14 — JR Anderson from Buyck, Minnesota. Age 45. JR is a native of Minnesotan who has dedicated over 20 years to the sport of endurance canines. He and wife, Anna ‘Chapman’ Anderson, own the River Rock Kennel in Buyck, Minnesota. When not racing dogs, JR can be found playing with his daughter Sara and son… Read more »

13 — Bruce Magnusson from Newberry, Michigan. Age 61. Bruce has run the Stage Stop Race more times than any other competitor in our 30-year history. The first time he ever got on a sled was a race in 2002, where he placed second; his dad took first. Bruce was hooked! Now in his 22nd year… Read more »

12 —Alix Crittenden, Bondurant Wyoming. Age 37. Alix has been a professional musher for Jackson Hole Iditarod Sled Dog Kennel for many years. With her husband Sam’s support, she’s battled a brain tumor which was diagnosed about two weeks before last year’s race. Undaunted, every day she cheered her handler, Jess Moore, who finished third…. Read more »

11 — Anny Malo from St-Zenon, Quebec, Canada. Age 54. “I started racing dogs in 1996 after I met my husband, Marco. In 1999 we got some precious teaching out of Joe and Pam Redington. From there, we raced western Canadian mid-distance events with mass starts and met so many good mushers. It became a… Read more »

10 — Cathy Rivest from St-Paul-de-Joliette, Quebec, Canada. Age 49. “I began dogsledding around 12 years old, and we ran a tourist business with our sled dogs. That quickly became competition. One winter as a handler in Alaska, I saw famous races and mushers, and found my passion. I moved closer to town, my kennel… Read more »

9 — Al Borak from Newberry, Michigan. Age 65. Al is a detail guy who’s learned to read dogs, and how to take care of them. His special power is preparing young dogs to be world class racers which is exactly what he plans to do with a talented group of youngsters from Bruce and… Read more »

8 — Tim Thiessen from Leadville, Colorado.  Age 41. Tim has run the Stage Stop every year since 2019. His passion for dog sledding began in 2003 when he began working for a Breckenridge, Colorado sled dog tour company. He soon began competing in the local Colorado race circuit with his own team. Tim and… Read more »

7 — Sarah Tarlton from Mountain, Wisconsin. Age 45. Sarah started racing in 2019, only four years after she began handling dogs. She and her partner in crime, Ryan Beaber, his daughters, and their dogs live in northern Wisconsin. She’s completed the Cross Lake, CopperDog, The Pas, Tahquamenon Country and Northern Pines sled dog races,… Read more »

6 — Charlie Conner from Loon Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada. Age 43. Charlie is a teacher, a sled dog tour operator, and an educator. He comes from a multi-generation kennel and grew up racing dogs on the Ma-Mow-We-Tak circuit in northern Canada. His three sons are avid mushers who enjoy the lifestyle and lessons that dogs… Read more »

5— Mike Bestgen from St. Cloud, Minnesota. Age 66. Mike has been running dogs since 1999, mostly in the Midwest, and in marathon and mid distance races. He’s a three-time winner of the WolfTrack Classic Sled Dog Race in Ely, Minnesota, two-time Midnight Run champ, and runner up at the Klondike Sled Dog Derby. ”… Read more »

4 — Dennis LaBoda from Hovland, Minnesota. Age 66. Dennis grew up in Minnesota surrounded by sled dog activities. His older brother, Dale, started mushing as a teenager, and raced the IPSSSDR in the early years of our event. Following his brother’s footsteps, Dennis started mushing as a teenager. In 1973, he won the Minnesota… Read more »

3 — Chris Adkins from Canyon Creek, Montana. Age 56. Chris grew up running dogs and ran his first distance race, the Race To The Sky 500, at the age of 21. He entered the Stage Stop in 2010 as a training run for the Iditarod and fell in love with the trails of Wyoming…. Read more »

  2 — Austin Forney from Leadville, Colorado. Age 43. A 9-time Pedigree Stage Stop Race finisher, Austin comes from a sixth-generation line of cattle ranchers in the Sandhills of western Nebraska. He lives and trains in Leadville, Colorado elevation 10,152 ft. Austin says he and his handlers are “excited to spend another year in… Read more »

1 — Michael Tetzner from Burg, Germany. Age 58. Michael’s homebase is a farm in Burg, Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany where he has a 60-dog kennel. He began mushing in 1987 after watching a sled dog race in Germany, then started running Siberian Huskies and he’s been racing dogs all over the world since. Michael… Read more »