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Born in Winterthur, Switzerland in 1958, Martin Buser became fascinated with sled dogs while still a teen. He came to Alaska in 1979 to enhance his knowledge of care and training of sled dogs. He began working and training with long-time Alaskan mushers Earl and Natalie Norris and ran his first Iditarod in 1980. Martin, wife Kathy Chapoton, a teacher, and sons Nikolai and Rohn (both named after Iditarod checkpoints), reside in Big Lake, Alaska, where the family owns and manages Happy Trails Kennel.
Martin spends a large percentage of his personal time speaking with youth on the humanitarian care of animals and the spirit of the Iditarod. A favorite celebrity of the children of Alaska, Martin treats them with surprise visits from his dogs during many of these appearances.
Martin runs the race each year with his dogs to test the success of their breeding, training and physical endurance. He regards his racers as true competitive athletes and prides his team on their longevity and spirit of competition. Says Martin, "I run the Iditarod to prove that my dogs, bred, trained and raced by Happy Trails Kennels, are the best amongst the world's long distance athletes."
Martin's 2002 team currently holds the record for the Fastest Iditarod by completing the race in 8 days, 22 hours, 46 minutes and 2 seconds. As tribute to his treatment of his racers, Martin was awarded the coveted Leonhard Seppala Award in 1988, 1993, and 1995 and again in 1997 for the most humanitarian care of his dogs. The award was named for the most famous Alaskan musher who ran the longest and most dangerous stretch of the 1925, 674-mile diphtheria serum run from Nenana to Nome, which saved hundreds of lives.
Following Martin's 2002 Iditarod victory, the process for his becoming a naturalized citizen of the United States was completed under the burled monument. Upon completion of the 2005 Iditarod after a woodworking accident 4 days prior to the race start resulting in the amputation of a part of his finger, his fellow mushers awarded him both the Sportsmanship and Most Inspirational Awards.
In the summer, Martin and his family give tours of their working kennel. The tour begins with a DVD trip from Anchorage to Nome narrated by Buser and includes his unique anecdotal stories gathered over 23 Iditarods. Visitors are offered a glimpse of a mock up of the Cripple Checkpoint complete with campfire and wall tent. Veterinary and dog care topics are discussed and of course, there's the cuddling of puppies. The tour ends with a riotous symphony of dogs barking as a team is hooked up and taken on a demo run to show folks the dogs in action.
Martin began running the Iditarod in 1980. He currently holds the record for the most consecutive runs (24 and counting ) and has completed 26 Iditarods overall.
Martin had a busy race season this year;
Kusko 300-2nd Place
Yukon Quest-4th Place Rookie Finish
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Iditarod-18th Place
Upcoming Kobuk 440
In January of this year Martin was also involved in hosting a research event from his kennel.
The first days of the New Year were spent being involved in an ongoing research project helping to determine the best treatment for potential stomach ulcers in dogs. Actually, two medications were being tested to see which showed better results as a preventive measure. The study involved 300 miles of running dogs in 75-mile segments with rest in between.
Check out this trailer from Martin's video "For The Love of Dogs" available on his website
http://www.buserdog.com/dvdtrailer.mov
http://www.buserdog.com
(All photos by Kathy Chapoton and used with permission)
Check out the Happy Trails Kennels store here: http://www.buserdog.com/merchandise.php
For past 'Ask the Musher' segments go here: http://mushing.bssd.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=4
Vol 1: Karen Ramstead
Vol 2: Rick Holt
Vol 3: Paul Gebhardt
Vol 4: Team Norway (Bjornar Andersen, Kjetil Backen and Robert Sorlie)
Vol 5: Ken Anderson
Vol 6: Rachael Scdoris
Vol 7: Rohn Buser
Vol 8: Dee Dee Jonrowe
Vol 9: Lance Mackey
Vol 10: Mitch Seavey
Vol 11: Ed Iten
Vol 12: Jeff King
Vol 13: Mike Jayne
Vol 14: Brent Sass
Vol 15: Hugh Neff
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