Stage Stop dogsled race crosses Wyoming

Red Lodge competitor remains in the mix

Posted 2/4/21

The Pedigree Stage Stop Race began Jan. 30 in Alpine with 24 teams running a 31-mile first leg along the Greys River. 

Lina Streeper of British Columbia finished first with a time of 2:02:44 …

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Stage Stop dogsled race crosses Wyoming

Red Lodge competitor remains in the mix

Posted

The Pedigree Stage Stop Race began Jan. 30 in Alpine with 24 teams running a 31-mile first leg along the Greys River. 

Lina Streeper of British Columbia finished first with a time of 2:02:44 and defending champion Anny Malo of Quebec coming in next by only 31 seconds. The two are heavily favored to win the overall and the biggest slices of the $165,000 purse.

But 18-year-old Maria Torgerson of Red Lodge, Montana, finished in the fifth positon. It is the second time Torgerson has run the race. Originally from Bozeman, Montana, she began her career as a musher when her father, David Torgerson, retired. She finished the race fifth overall last year as a rookie.

Also running is Alix Crittenden of Bondurant, who finished the Stage Stop third overall last year. She has run a Jackson Hole team in the famed Iditarod in Alaska for five years.

Appearing in her first Stage Stop is Gwenn Bogart from Boulder, Wyoming. She competed in the 2015 Iditarod and owns Sage Huskies in Boulder.

The second leg was Sunday, won by Malo to take the overall lead, followed by Streeper. Crittenden was 12th and Torgerson placed sixth, followed by Bogart in the No. 14 position.

The third leg, run Monday over a 32-mile trail at Kemmerer, saw Erick Laforce of Quebec take the win by a mere 35 seconds over Malo. Malo maintained her overall lead ahead of Streeper by 6 minutes and 10 seconds. That pair of mushers finished in Kemmerer in second and third place, respectively, followed by Crittenden in sixth and Torgerson in ninth place. Bogart trailed in 19th place.

Leg four was run Tuesday west of Big Piney and Marbleton. Malo took the leg in her quest for a three-peat, increasing her overall lead in the standings to 8:18 over Streeper. Torgerson came in sixth, Crittenden eighth and Bogart was 16th.

Wednesday’s race was held in the Lander area with today (Thursday) as a travel day to Driggs, Idaho. Teams will race that leg on Friday and finish in Teton County on Saturday.

There are seven legs to the race: Alpine, Pinedale, Kemmerer, Big Piney/Marbleton, Lander, Driggs, Idaho, and Teton County. Each leg is between 30 and 35 miles long and the courses are on U.S. Forest Service trails. 

Spectators are discouraged to help contain the spread of COVID-19 but coverage is online at www.wyomingstagestop.org as well as on social media.

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