OUR PICK: Pedigree Stage Stope Sled Dog Race

What has more than 1,000 legs, travels nearly 350 miles and stops in 12 towns and two states over eight days?

The winter paw-pounding action and small-town fun are back for the International Pedigree Stage Stop Sled Dog Race’s 17th year, running Jan. 27 to Feb. 4, with a full roster of mushers hailing from as far away as Scotland and Sweden, and the race’s own Jackson Hole, Wyo., backyard.

The largest sled dog race in the lower 48 states, the race has become a top event in the professional mushing circuit and offers a $10,000 purse. It will leave Jackson Hole’s antler-bedecked Town Square with a lineup of 20 teams, each bringing up to 16 dogs.

Generating excitement for spectators and racers alike, it travels from Jackson Hole to Park City, Utah, with activity-filled stops in Wyoming communities along the way, including Lander, Pinedale, Cora, Big Piney, Marbleton, Alpine, Kemmerer, Evanston, Mountain View and Lyman.

Nine teams come from outside the U.S, with teams from Canada, including British Columbia, Quebec, Alberta and the Northwest Territories, as well as Scotland and Sweden. Two teams will be driven by women. The youngest musher is 14-year-old Bailey Cross Vitello from Brookfield, Mass., and the oldest is 60-year-old Grant Beck from the Northwest Territories, Canada.

The send-off Jan. 27 at the Jackson Hole Winter Carnival includes a fireworks show, torchlight parade, music, food booths and a free musher reception party. Then the race speeds on to stages in Wyoming and Utah — all the way to the big finish in Park City.

With its unique stage-stop format, the International Pedigree Stage Stop Sled Dog Race stops in a different town each night, giving Wyoming communities the opportunity to turn on the hospitality for mushers and spectators alike.

While some enjoy the carnival start and the big-finish festivities in Park City, many spectators follow the race through its small-town stages, known for their lively, family-friendly and “meet the mushers” events, including Dutch oven dinners, flapjack frenzies and musher-mania events that include a human sled dog race and snowshoe softball.

IF YOU GO

Now in its 17th year, the International Pedigree Stage Stop Sled Dog Race (IPSSSDR) was founded in 1996 by Iditarod musher Frank Teasley to make sled dog racing more accessible to the public, with a kinder-to-the-dogs stage-stop format attracting the world’s top competitors.

Get information about the race, mushers, stage stops, activities and a map by visiting www.wyomingstagestop.org, or by calling 1-307-734-1163. The race is also active on Facebook under International Pedigree Stage Stop and on Twitter at @IPSSSDR.

JOY HARPER, THE GAZETTE