(Lander, WY) – The 30th annual Pedigree Stage Stop Dog Sled Race came to a close in Dubois this weekend after stopping in Lander for both the Friday night meet and greet with the competitors and the Lander stage of the race in South Pass.
While we were not able to attend the Lander stage race due to road conditions, County 10 stopped by the Main Street meet and greet to chat with some of the team captains.
The first musher we spoke with was Sean Hildreth from Bend, Oregon who was a first-time Pedigree Stege Stop competitor running the race team for Oregon Trail of Dreams.
“I’m a rookie musher here. The kennel has raced here quite a few times, but I’m out on my own,” Hildreth shared before adding that this was also his first time in Wyoming.
“I’ve driven through it very briefly, but (this is the) first time really getting to spend time in this beautiful state.”
We asked Hildreth what some of the biggest challenges were for the Lander stage, which he said was the hill-climing and the wind.
“There’s some really steep inclines. The biggest thing is making sure to not push your team too soon to just keep some gas in the tank for coming home, because one of the steepest, longest inclines is probably the last eight miles of the race. And you gotta make sure you got some gas in the tank for your dog. So being conservative early is not gonna hurt you later on in this leg.”
Hildreth was in the second-to-last position when we spoke to him, but chalked up his first time racing in the Pedigree Sage Stop as a learning experience.
“The intention was coming here and learning as much as possible from every single amazing musher here, which I have. The coolest thing about this race is just the community and the family that everyone in this race is. Every single musher here is here to help each other and make each other better. I’ve really felt that everyone has helped me tremendously grow as a musher. It’s amazing. It’s a beautiful race.”
Hildreth added that he and the team plan on coming back next year.
“We’re going to be back here next year. We’re going to do better. We’ve got a lot of room to grow.”
The next musher we chatted with was Stéphane Roy from New Brunswick, Canada. French is Roy’s primary language, but we were still able to do an interview thanks to a translator on his team.
Roy shared that he has been racing since he was five years old, and competitively since he was about 15 or 16.
Despite the years of experience, Roy was also a Pedigree Stage Stop rookie this year, like Hildreth.
Roy commented that the most difficult part of the race was the trip to get here; the racing itself was easy. He also described Wyoming as “beautiful.”
“The countryside is magnificent.”
When we asked if he plans on coming back next year, his reply was an immediate “yes.”
The last musher we spoke with was Michael Bestgen from St. Cloud, Minnesota, the sole musher we interviewed who has done the Pedigree Stage Stop before.
Bestgen has been racing for 28 years, 12 of which competitively, and has now done the Pedigree Stage Stop three times.
He said the first year he competed, the Pedigree Stage Stop was a bucket list race, but he came back the following year when the weather didn’t cooperate for the races he normally competes in.
“Last year we didn’t have any snow in Minnesota, the U.P. of Michigan or Wisconsin, so I ended up coming out here again,” Bestgen explained. “This year I just decided it’s been so great that we came out again for a third year.”
In addition to the challenge of windy conditions on South Pass, Bestgen shared that another hurdle his team faced was rookie dogs who had yet to compete in actual snow, due to the mentioned weather conditions back in the Minnesota area when they were training.
“These dogs were very new to snow. It’s not real conducive to come to a race with no sled miles. It’s like playing volleyball in the sand when you’re used to playing in a gym. You get in the sand, completely different muscles and everything. It takes a while for the dogs to acclimate to the elevation. I come from St. Cloud, which is, you know, we’ve got potato fields and corn fields and. And then to come here in the mountains, it takes quite a bit of transition.”
Bestgen echoed Roy’s sentiment that the most challenging aspect was getting here.
“The racing is the easy part,” Bestgen commented, and shared that his team will most likely come back again in the future.
Past Pedigree Stage Stop winner Anny Malo once again finished in first place, taking the top spot of the $200,000 purse.
Wyoming’s sole competitor, Alix Crittenden from Bondurant, represented the state well and finished in third place.
Of the mushers we spoke with, Roy was able to take a spot in the top 5.
The final standings for the whole race are listed below.
#1 Anny Malo from Saint Zenon Quebec, Canada.
#2 Cathy Rivest from St-Paul-de-Joilette Quebec, Canada.
#3 Alix Crittenden from Bondurant, Wyoming.
#4 Stéphane Roy from New Brunswick, Canada.
#5 Bruce Magnusson from Newberry, Michigan.
#6 Michael Tetzner from Burg, Germany.
#7 Liam Conner from Loon Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada.
#8 Al Borak from Newberry Michigan.
#9 JR Anderson from Buyck, Minnesota.
#10 Leonie Tetzner from Burg, Germany.
#11 Sarah Tarlton from Mountain, Wisconsin.
#12 Dave Hochman from Carlowrie, Manitoba, Canada.
#13 Michael Bestgen from St. Cloud, Minnesota.
#14 Austin Forney from Leadville, Colorado.
#15 Tim Thiessen from Leadville, Colorado.
#16 Sean Hildreth from Bend, Oregon.
#17 Chris Adkins from Canyon Creek, Montana.
For additional details/photos from the entire race, click here. Check out some photos of the meet and greet below.
