Pedigree Stage Stop Race

Last updated January 19, 2025

Pedigree Stage Stop Sled Dog Race

Overview

The Pedigree Stage Stop Sled Dog Race is an annual sled dog competition beginning in late January in western Wyoming in the United States. Founded in 1995 by Frank Teasley and Jayne Ottman, the races’ original purpose was to promote childhood immunization rates in Wyoming and make the sport of sled dog racing more accessible to the public by fostering a connection between competitors, their dogs, and local communities. Each day of the event is called a ‘stage” and is hosted by a local community.

Initially conceived as a way to introduce sled dog racing to a broader audience, the race has grown to become one of the most prestigious events in the sport. Unlike traditional long-distance races such as the Iditarod, the Pedigree Stage Stop features a stage-racing format, where teams compete on a different course each day, with breaks for rest and travel between stages. This approach allows for a family-friendly atmosphere and greater interaction with the host communities.

Format and Rules

The race currently spans 8 days, with a ceremonial start in downtown Jackson, Wyoming. Each subsequent stage takes place in a different town or city. Participating teams, composed of a musher and their sled dogs, cover distances ranging from 28 to 35 miles per stage. The combined time for all stages determines the overall winner.

Key rules include:

Mushers enter a pool of up to 16 dogs
The maximum daily team size is 12 dogs.
Dogs must meet rigorous health and vaccination standards.
Teams are required to follow strict guidelines to ensure the safety and welfare of the dogs.

Route

The race begins in Jackson, Wyoming, and traverses several towns, including:

Pinedale
Big Piney / Marbleton
Kemmerer
Lander
Dubois

Each location showcases its unique terrain, offering a mix of mountain trails, open plains, and forested paths. Spectators are encouraged to attend events at the starting and finishing lines, making the race a popular local attraction.

All stages are out-and-back routes where the mushers and their teams leave the starting area and navigate the designated racecourse to a loop or turn-around and head back to the starting area to complete the run.

The daily race routes are part of the United States Forest Services winter trail system and are maintained by the State of Wyoming through the Wyoming State Trails program which manages the grooming of the trails surfaces using large, tracked grooming machines. All trails are public access.

Impact and Community Engagement

The Pedigree Stage Stop Sled Dog Race has a significant impact on the communities it visits. Local businesses benefit from the influx of visitors, while educational programs introduce children to sled dog racing and animal care. Additionally, the race supports animal welfare initiatives through partnerships with local shelters and adoption programs.

Sustainability Initiative

In 2025 the race organization renewed its pledge as a responsible stewards of public lands and community support by issuing the following proclamation:

"At the Pedigree Stage Stop Race, we are deeply committed to protecting the future of Wyoming’s public lands and the communities that depend on them. Promoting healthy, outdoor lifestyles is a core part of our mission, and this commitment is reflected in the actions of both our human and canine participants.

To ensure that we—and future generations—can continue enjoying these incredible outdoor spaces, we have pledged to minimize our environmental impact and act as responsible stewards of public lands.

We encourage you to join us in taking a similar pledge of stewardship and personal responsibility. Below are some educational resources that have guided us in our sustainability efforts, and we hope you find them equally helpful."

Visiting Jackson Hole – Know Before You Go

EPA – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

How to Recycle in Teton County, Wyoming

Leave No Trace – Seven Principles

Carbon Offsets for Travel

Champions

As of 2024 there have been twelve individual champions with several mushers winning the event more than once. Of the 29 victories to date, all teams came from 10 individual kennels. The Streeper kennel out of British Columbia has the most titles with nine victories.

1996	Rick Swenson
1997	Hans Gatt
1998	Hans Gatt
1999	Jeff King
2000	Hans Gatt
2001	Hans Gatt
2002	Melanie Shirilla
2003	Gwen Holdmann
2004	Blayne “Buddy” Streeper
2005	Hernan Maquieira
2006	Melanie Shirilla
2007	Wendy Davis
2008	Melanie Shirilla
2009	Melanie Shirilla
2010	Blayne “Buddy” Streeper
2011	Blayne “Buddy” Streeper
2012	Blayne “Buddy” Streeper
2013	Aaron Peck
2014	Blayne “Buddy” Streeper
2015	Blayne “Buddy” Streeper
2016	Blayne "Buddy" Streeper
2017	Lina Streeper
2018	Lina Streeper
2019	Anny Malo
2020	Anny Malo
2021	Anny Malo
2022	Anny Malo
2023	Anny Malo
2024	Remy Coste

Legacy

The Pedigree Stage Stop Sled Dog Race continues to grow in popularity, drawing attention to the sport of sled dog racing and the strong bond between mushers and their dogs. Its focus on community engagement, animal welfare, and family-friendly entertainment ensures its lasting impact on the sport and the regions it touches.

Related Research Articles

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, more commonly known as The Iditarod, is an annual long-distance sled dog race held in Alaska in early March. It travels from Anchorage to Nome. Mushers and a team of between 12 and 16 dogs, of which at least 5 must be on the towline at the finish line, cover the distance in 8–15 days or more. The Iditarod began in 1973 as an event to test the best sled dog mushers and teams but evolved into today's highly competitive race.

A sled dog is a dog trained and used to pull a land vehicle in harness, most commonly a sled over snow.

Sled dog racing is a winter dog sport most popular in the Arctic regions of the United States, Canada, Russia, Greenland and some European countries. It involves the timed competition of teams of sled dogs that pull a sled with the dog driver or musher standing on the runners. The team completing the marked course in the least time is judged the winner.

Mushing is a sport or transport method powered by dogs. It includes carting, pulka, dog scootering, sled dog racing, skijoring, freighting, and weight pulling. More specifically, it implies the use of one or more dogs to pull a sled, most commonly a specialized type of dog sled on snow, or a rig on dry land.

The Iditarod Trail, also known historically as the Seward-to-Nome Trail, is a thousand-plus mile (1,600 km) historic and contemporary trail system in the US state of Alaska. The trail began as a composite of trails established by Alaskan native peoples. Its route crossed several mountain ranges and valleys and passed through numerous historical settlements en route from Seward to Nome. The discovery of gold around Nome brought thousands of people over this route beginning in 1908. Roadhouses for people and dog barns sprang up every 20 or so miles. By 1918 World War I and the lack of 'gold fever' resulted in far less travel. The trail might have been forgotten except for the 1925 diphtheria outbreak in Nome. In one of the final great feats of dog sleds, twenty drivers and teams carried the life-saving serum 674 miles (1,085 km) in 127 hours. Today, the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race serves to commemorate the part the trail and its dog sleds played in the development of Alaska, and the route and a series of connecting trails have been designated Iditarod National Historic Trail.

The Yukon Quest, formally the Yukon Quest 1,000-mile International Sled Dog Race, is a sled dog race scheduled every February since 1984 between Fairbanks, Alaska, and Whitehorse, Yukon, switching directions each year. Because of the harsh winter conditions, difficult trail, and the limited support that competitors are allowed, it is considered the "most difficult sled dog race in the world", or even the "toughest race in the world"—"even tougher, more selective and less attention-seeking than the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race." The originator envisioned it as "a race so rugged that only purists would participate."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eurohound</span> Dog breed

A Eurohound is a type of dog bred for sled dog racing. The eurohound is crossbred from the Alaskan husky and any of a number of pointing breeds ("pointers"), but most often the German Shorthair Pointer,

Jeff King is an American musher and sled dog racer. He is generally credited with introducing the sit-down sled which has largely replaced the standing sled traditionally used by distance mushers.

Togo was the lead sled dog of musher Leonhard Seppala and his dog sled team in the 1925 serum run to Nome across central and northern Alaska. Despite covering a far greater distance than any other lead dogs on the run, over some of the most dangerous parts of the trail, his role was left out of contemporary news of the event at the time, in favor of the lead dog for the last leg of the relay, Balto, whom Seppala also owned and had bred.

Dorothy G. Page was best known as "Mother of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race", the 1,049-mile dog sled race across the U.S. state of Alaska.

The Junior Iditarod Sled Dog Race, or Jr. Iditarod, is a 148- to 158-mile sled dog race for mushers between the ages of 14 through 17, which is patterned after the 1,150-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race that is said to be 1,049 miles (1,688.2 km). The race is held outside Anchorage in the U.S. state of Alaska, and was the first long-distance race for juvenile mushers.

Rachael Scdoris /səˈdɔərɪs/ is an American dog musher and cross country runner who in 2006 became the first legally blind person to complete the 1,049+ mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race across the U.S. state of Alaska.

Skijoring is a winter sport in which a person on skis is pulled by a horse, a dog, another animal, or a motor vehicle. The name is derived from the Norwegian word skikjøring, meaning "ski driving". Although skijoring is said to have originated as a mode of winter travel, it is currently primarily a competitive sport.

The 1925 serum run to Nome, also known as the Great Race of Mercy and The Serum Run, was a transport of diphtheria antitoxin by dog sled relay across the US territory of Alaska by 20 mushers and about 150 sled dogs across 674 miles (1,085 km) in 5+1⁄2 days, saving the small town of Nome and the surrounding communities from a developing epidemic of diphtheria.

Leonhard "Sepp" Seppala was a Norwegian-Kven-American sled dog breeder, trainer and musher who with his dogs played a pivotal role in the 1925 serum run to Nome, and participated in the 1932 Winter Olympics. Seppala introduced the work dogs used by Native Siberians at the time to the American public; the breed came to be known as the Siberian Husky in the English-speaking world. The Leonhard Seppala Humanitarian Award, which honors excellence in sled dog care, is named in honour of him.

Lance Mackey was an American dog musher and dog sled racer from Fairbanks, Alaska. Mackey was a four-time winner of both the 1,000-mile (1,600 km) Yukon Quest and the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

The Alpirod is a defunct 1,000 kilometres (621 mi) sled dog stage race in Southern Europe. Its name comes from a combination of the Alps, where the race took place, and the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, upon which the race was based. The competition consisted of a 14-day stage race in 11 cities in four countries: Italy, Germany, Austria and France. The competition consisted of multiple short races separated by evening breaks, similar to cycling's Tour de France. At the time, it was the largest sled dog race outside North America. The race was organized by Armen Khatchikian, an Italian Iditarod competitor who hoped to bring a form of that race to Europe. It first took place in 1988, and the inaugural race was won by Alaska racer Joe Runyan. In 1989, the race was won by Kathy Swenson. She was the first woman to win the race. In 1990, Alaskan Roxy Wright Champaine won the race, becoming the third American winner. In 1992, the race was won by Nenana, Alaska musher Jacques Philip, who went on to win the race three times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jamaica Dogsled Team</span>

The Jamaica Dogsled Team is a team of sled dogs and mushers headquartered at Chukka Caribbean Adventures in Ocho Rios, located in Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica. The dog team is made up of strays rescued by the Jamaica Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and offers dryland dogsled rides, along with the adventure center's other outdoor experiences. In addition, the two mushers Newton Marshall and Damion Robb, compete in sled races throughout the US and Canada, using leased dog teams. Country music singer Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville is the team's major sponsor.

The Alaskan husky is a breed of medium-sized working sled dog, developed specifically for its performance as such.

References

External links

Official website

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Pedigree Stage Stop Race

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