Good morning Pedigree Stage Stop Race Fans,
After a very well attended dinner in the South Lincoln Training and Event Center it is time to head to the Hams Fork Staging area here in Kemmerer. Temperatures are once again sitting at 37F here this morning and the forecast is calling for strong westerly winds.
Here a recap from yesterday by Jake Robinson, who does these much better than I could possibly do. THANK YOU JAKE!
-Moving Day-
Things are heating up, literally and figuratively at the Pedigree Stage Stop Race! In the first back-to-back heat of the 2025 edition, we saw a ton of movement in the pack, as well as some strategies and patterns start to emerge. Things are about the get incredibly interesting, as rumor has it that Thursday’s planned rest day will be a makeup stage to account for the missed day of racing in Pinedale. This will mean that teams will run 6 days in a row, testing the endurance and speed capabilities of each dog, as well as the physical and mental abilities of each musher.
Warmer weather, but harder trails seemed to be the theme of today as temps were as high as 42° at the start line. Reports were a hard, fast, nearly perfect trail surface which was confirmed by some of the blazing times thrown down by a few of the teams. Anny Malo unsurprisingly won the heat, but what was a little surprising was that she did so with only 8 dogs! In this format of racing, each competitor declares a ‘pool’ of 16 dogs and can race up to 12 of them each day. In normal circumstances, intentionally running only 8 dogs this early in the race might indicate that a team may be short on dogs due to minor illness or injury, but my gut is that this seasoned pro learned a lesson from last year’s victor and is using her comfortable overall lead to rest half of her pool and keep more dogs fresh.
Undoubtedly, keen spectators and competitors alike will be keeping an eye on videos and pictures from the race to try and piece together how she is utilizing her pool going forward. One of many surprises today was Bruce ‘The Moose’ Magnusson, who had a terrific run today and finished 2nd for the lap. While the writing was on the wall for Bruce to be putting together a real nice race, and a 2nd daily finish was inevitable at some point, the fact that he ran within 1.5 minutes of Malo shows that he has the ability to sharpen his knife and start putting a little pressure on the 5 time champ. Bruce also shaved over 3 minutes off of his time from yesterday on the exact same trail, showing that he may be coiling up to strike, while Malo actually slowed down by 1.5 minutes compared to the prior lap. As of yesterday, Magnusson was sitting in 4th place, nearly 10 minutes behind 2nd. As of this writing, Mr. Magnusson has catapulted to 3rd overall and is only 38 seconds out of 2nd! Things can change, and fast, in Wyoming.
While we’re on the topic of upwards momentum, Cathy Rivest put on a nice run for a solid 3rd place finish and is placing herself as a contender for this slot overall if she keeps it up. Michael Tetzner once again took advantage of the fast trail conditions for a 4th place day finish, which may be his best day placing in his 3 years of competing in this event. ‘Minnesota Mike’ Bestgen hands down won the ‘most improved award’, besting his prior day time by over 9 minutes for a 5th! Like many of us poor midwestern souls, Mike has been battling terrible winter conditions and is short on sled runs. Today may be an indicator that both him and his team are getting their ‘sled legs’ and finding the ground beneath their feet. While the top 5 saw quite a bit of turnover, Liam ‘Young Gun’ Conner once again finished 6th, and wins the ‘most consistent’ award, running within 26 seconds of his time from yesterday. Liam seems to be taking an approach of just running the dogs in front of him, working hard, and letting the team do their thing. We can all probably learn a thing or two from this young man and use the K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Stupid) approach more often. I will be very interested to compare his splits from yesterday to today!
Both Stephane Roy and Alix Crittenden gave up some serious time coming home, and had day finishes that were likely not in either of their plans. Stephane has given what was a comfortable margin almost entirely over to Bruce Magnusson, and is going to have to overcome the odds to battle back the momentum that Team Magnusson seems to be gaining. With 4 days of hard racing left, Roy is going to have to demonstrate some serious savvy to hold his position. Perhaps more surprising is Crittenden’s finish, the veteran racer appeared to have a tough lap. Alix and her crew have the knowledge and capability to bounce back, and they’ll need to exercise it to keep in the hunt for the podium.
Trucks are heading to Kemmerer for what has historically been one of the stages with less climbing before a possible two days of racing in Lander, where steep climbs, warm temps, and scant snow conditions await them. Who will keep up the trend (both positive or negative) and whose performance from today was a flash in the pan? The most grueling days are yet to come and things are going to continue to get exciting!
