Once a Dog Musher, Always a Dog Musher
Jack Beckstrom loved sled dogs. It was his life’s passion and his profession. It was not only what he did, it was who he was. Jack Beckstrom of Olney, Montana, passed away quietly on March 5, 2018, from a heart attack, after being active in the sport of mushing his…
The Reitan family’s Arctic adventures
When Ketil Reitan pulled into Nome in 14th place in this year’s Iditarod Trail Sled Dog race, Nome was not the terminus of his season’s journey by dog sled. While most Iditarod mushers call it a season – except for the few who run the Kobuk 440 — Reitan’s adventures…
Dryland racing draws Alaskan mushers to Chugiak
The first dryland event of the year in Alaska took place in Chugiak. Over 40 participants filled the parking lot early Saturday morning. Ten bikers took off at 1-minute intervals in the 1-dog division, followed by 13 entrants in the 2 dog. Although the dogs may only run in one…
Foot care for sled dogs in fall training
Attention to maintaining healthy feet in the first few weeks or months of training is a much needed, but often overlooked, aspect of animal husbandry. What is needed in your kennel is largely governed by the surfaces your dogs train upon, the surfaces they spend the majority of their time…
Nome Kennel Club continues Nome’s mushing tradition
Mushing is all about overcoming adversity. There probably is not a musher out there who has not fallen off the runners at least once, but what makes the individual a musher is that they got back on the sled. Billed as the “world’s oldest dog mushing organization,” the Nome Kennel…
Streeper Kennel
In light of a sweeping performance of the Streeper Kennels in this winter’s sprint racing season, Mushing Magazine sent a series of in-depth questions to Blayne “Buddy” Streeper that sought to paint a picture of the Streeper kennel and the people and philosophies behind it. The interview is edited for…
Meet Joar Leifseth Ulsom
Joar Leifseth Ulsom is not a new name in the Alaskan mushing circuit, but to the broader public, not much was known about this quiet Norwegian musher who burst onto the Alaskan dog mushing scene in 2013. In conversations among media or mushers, he was referred to as “The Norwegian”,…