Wyoming to Utah Sled Dog Race begins January 28

Jackson, Wyoming – January 6, 2011 – Twenty-two teams will depart from the starting line in Jackson’s Town Square on January 28 at the start of the International Pedigree Stage Stop Sled Dog Race (IPSSSDR). The race, the largest sled dog race in the lower 48 states, will continue from Jackson to separate stages in the small Wyoming communities of Lander, Pinedale, Cora, Big Piney, Marbleton, Alpine, Kemmerer, Diamondville, Evanston, Mountain View and Lyman before finishing in Park City, Utah on February 5.

Eleven newcomers or rookies to the IPSSSDR will race this year. Eight teams come from outside the U.S., with teams from Canada, including British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, and Northwest Territories, as well as Sweden and Jamaica. Five teams this year will be driven by women. The youngest musher is 19 and the oldest, 60.

Communities on the race route host various festivities to welcome mushers and dogs as they speed through town, offering Dutch oven dinners, flapjack frenzies and musher mania events that include a human sled dog race and snowshoe softball.

With its unique stage stop format, the IPSSSDR has become a popular mushing event attracting the world’s top competitors. Pedigree® Food for Dogs is the title sponsor of the IPSSSDR. The Pedigree® brand actively supports a wide range of programs that promote responsible pet ownership and highlight the contributions dogs make to society.

The International Pedigree Stage Stop Sled Dog Race was founded in 1996 by Frank Teasley to showcase the state of Wyoming and to make sled dog racing more accessible to the public. Each year the race makes a contribution to communities on the race route for childhood immunizations. For more information, visit the race website at http://www.wyomingstagestop.org/ ; contact the race via e-mail at bark@wyomingstagestop.org  or telephone at 307.734.1163. The race is also active on Facebook under International Pedigree Stage Stop and on Twitter at @IPSSSDR.

International Pedigree Stage Stop Sled Dog Race Turns 15

Jackson, Wyoming – January 15, 2010 –The International Pedigree Stage Stop Sled Dog Race (IPSSSDR) mushes through Wyoming to Park City, Utah, January 29 – February 6, 2010, announced Race Director Frank Teasley. Celebrating its 15th year, the dog-friendly, popular-with-mushers race speeds through 10 communities in Wyoming and Utah.

Currently, Teasley is hoping for more snow, but after 15 years putting on the race, he has plans A, B and C in place. “We can always figure out a trail that will work,” says Teasley. “In Jackson, the Public Works Department has been storing snow at the Rodeo Grounds just in case we need it.”

The IPSSSDR attracts many return racers like Sam Perrino and Grant Beck from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, as well as such newcomers as Chris Adkins from Montana, a rookie in the 2010 race. Buddy Streeper, the only musher in sport history to have won the five majors – Laconia, The Pas, Anchorage, Fairbanks and Yellowknife – returns to Wyoming to vie for victory; he won first place in his first IPSSSDR in 2004.

“This year will be a very hard and fast competition from start to finish,” says Teasley. “We have the top 10 teams from last year plus the Streeper Kennel of Fort Nelson, B.C., who have won the IPSSSDR before. Teams will be trying to put clean runs back to back – hoping not so much for good luck as for no bad luck!”

The 2010 Jackson IPSSSDR send-off takes place January 29, 2010, at the Jackson Hole Winter Carnival complete with a bonfire, fireworks show, music and food booths, before heading on to stages in Lander, Pinedale, Cora, Big Piney/Marbleton, Alpine, Kemmerer/Diamondville, and Uinta County, and the big finish in Park City. (a schedule follows this release)

With its unique “stage stop” format, the race stops in a different town each night, giving the Wyoming communities an opportunity to turn on the hospitality for mushers and spectators alike with events from dog parades, kids’ dog sled races and ice sculpture contests to banquets, carnivals and pie socials.

Pedigree® Food for Dogs is the title sponsor of the IPSSSDR. The Pedigree® brand actively supports a wide range of programs that promote responsible pet ownership and highlight the contributions dogs make to society.

The International Pedigree Stage Stop Sled Dog Race was founded in 1996 by Frank Teasley to make sled dog racing more accessible to the public. For more information, visit the race website at http://www.wyomingstagestop.org/ ; contact the race via e-mail at wystagestop@blissnet.com  or telephone at (307) 734-1163.


2010 IPSSSDR
January 29 - February 6, 2010 Schedule
January 29: Jackson Hole
January 30: Travel Day
January 31: Lander
February 1: Pinedale/Cora
February 2: Big Piney/Marbleton
February 3: Alpine
February 4: Kemmerer
February 5: Evanston to Mountain View
February 6: Park City