Pinkham Start
Bill Pinkham, Team 7 from Glenwood Springs, Colorado-USA, gets ready to start the first Pinedale stage stop race in the Upper Green Monday morning.
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Team 8 lines up
Team 8, Jeremy Anderson from Ray, Minnesota, lines up at the Upper Green starting line on Monday.
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Pinedale Stage Stop of IPSSSDR begins
by Dawn Ballou
January 31, 2005
DAY 3 Race Results: Jacques Philip from Nenana, Alaska, posted the fastest time in Day Three of the International Pedigree Stage Stop Sled Dog Race (IPSSSDR) with 3:06:50. Philip averaged 14.5 miles per hour on the 45 mile stage. Hernan Maquieira from Ostermundigen, Switzerland, placed second with 3:10:40; Melanie Shirilla from Lincoln, Montana, was third with 3:14:09. In overall times, Maquieira leads with 7:04:19. Philip is second with 7:09:33, Shirilla is third with 7:20:51.
Nineteen teams are competing in the 2005 IPSSSDR—the largest sled dog race in the lower 48 states. The race stops in a different community each night from Jan 28 through Feb 5, beginning in Jackson, then on to Lander, Pinedale, Alpine, Kemmerer/Diamondville, Evanston, and Lyman/Mountain View before arriving in Park City, Utah for the final stage and award ceremony on Feb. 5th. The Pinedale Stage Stop is Day 3 for the race.
Hernan Maquieira from Ostermundigen, Switzerland, posted the fastest time on DAY 2 in the Lander stage. He averaged 13.4 miles per hour on the 53-mile course that departed from Bruce’s Bridge at Sinks Canyon outside Lander and traveled through the Wind River Mountains.
Day Three began Monday, January 31, at noon at the Upper Green River parking lot at the Bridger-Teton National Forest boundary. Racers and spectators enjoyed sunny blue skies, mild temperatures, and beautiful scenery. Monday’s race was a 43 mile loop course along the Continental Divide Snowmachine Trail. Following Monday’s race, teams will camp out at Elk Ridge Lodge. The second Pinedale Stage Stop race on Tuesday, February 1, Day Four, will begin in the Upper Green at 9 am and race a 33-mile stage to Pinedale.
This race is one of the most spectator-friendly legs of the race. Mushers and teams will follow the Continental Divide Snowmobile Trail which follows the Cora road, Highway 352 to Highway 191. Then teams will parallel Hwy 191 on the snowmachine/bike trail on the north side of the highway. Volunteers from the Sublette County Chamber of Commerce, Boulder Air Force Detachment 489 Seismic Research Station, and the Pinedale Stage Stop Committee spent most of Monday putting up bright orange snow fencing along the Hwy 191 right-of-way to create a runway for the sled dog teams arriving into Pinedale along the snowmachine trail.
The festivities for the Pinedale Stage Stop began Sunday evening with a Musher’s reception at the new senior center in Pinedale, Rendezvous Pointe. About 200 people attended the reception/dinner, with many home-baked desserts contributed by county residents.
For biographies of the mushers, daily race standings, and more information about the IPSSSDR, go to the official race website. This year marks the 10th year for the IPSSSDR.
Photos by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online
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