The Veteran
The Swiss born Martin Buser (62) lines up for his 38th Iditarod race this year. The Wayne Gretzky of dog sledding, has been inducted into the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame.
Stupid, Stubborn and Tough
Buser is aiming for his 38th finish at Iditarod this year. Photo: Jeff Schultz.
“I have been stupid, stubborn and tough enough to finish all the races I have started”, Martin Buser usually tells the numerous cruise ships voyagers that are transported to his Happy Trails Kennels located in Big Lake, Alaska. Surrounded by the snow-capped Chugach Mountains, is Alaska’s largest city Anchorage a popular destination for cruise ships, and a popular intermission from the decadent and luxurious cruise life, is dog sledding. Until the Covid 19 hit the business, it was a pretty good earning for the Buser family.
Martin Buser was born in 1958 in Winterthur, Switzerland, a former industrial town 20 minutes drive north of Zürich. He began mushing Siberian Huskies at age 17, and four years later the young man leveled up his game, and moved to Alaska. He arrived in April 1979, and was supposed to stay for one year.
From 1980 to 2021
He entered his first Iditarod in 1980, and the rookie crossed the finish line in Nome after 17 days, 6 hours, 50 minutes and 5 seconds. That was approximately three days after the winner, but Buser earned a reputable 22th place, and mushing and Alaska had started to infect his blood. The next year he started again with better dogs, and improved his personal record by two days, and came 19th. He was now hooked on dogs, the Alaskan lifestyle, the beauty of the land, and his destiny was cemented.
Martin Buser has been racing dogs for decades. Here he is portrayed on a postcard from 1992.
Martin Buser belongs to the first generation of full time professional dog racers, and since 1986 he has run every Iditarod. He has won the event four times, in 1992, 1994, 1997, and in 2002. In that last race he gained the record for the fastest Iditarod ever, completing the race in 8 days, 22 hours, 46 minutes and 2 seconds. The record was his for nine years.
“After six, seven decades, it’s a little harder to keep up with those 30-year-olds.”
The 2014 Hunger Games Race
When asked for his most extraordinary race, Martin Buser recalls the 2014-storm. "I call it the Hunger Games race", he says, where one challenge led to another. It was scarcely snow in parts of the trail, and when they approached Nome, the weather turned. The mushers headed straight into a coastal windstorm. Hurricane force side winds rolled over the sleds, Buser twisted his ankle, tore some ligaments, broke his finger, and then the temperature fell to 30 ℃ below zero. The race impacted him physically and mentally, and he needed to debrief. He talked about it endlessly, and then he wrote about it, which led to the book «The Dog Man».
Seppala’s Stunt Double
Martin Buser starred as a stunt double in the movie Togo. Photo: Disney Pictures
A more pleasant, but memorable dog experience, was his journey from, let us say, Switzerland to Disneyland. In December 2019 Walt Disney Pictures released the movie «Togo». The $40 million drama adventure is a disneyfied version of the "Serum Run" to Nome in 1925, featuring the Norwegian musher Leonhard Seppala and his lead dog Togo. The film was recorded in Canada, and Martin Buser was called in as a musher authority. In the movie is Leonhard Seppala portrayed by Willem Dafoe, but his stunt double, is Martin Buser. And speaking of Seppala; Martin has five times been awarded the coveted Leonhard Seppala Award for the most humanitarian care of his dogs. There is a thoughtful reason that his business is named Happy Trails Kennels. Buser prefers to call his employees “apprentices” rather than “handlers”. That reflects better what he wants to achieve, together with his wife Kathy Chapoton, a retired teacher, and their two sons, Nikolai and Rohn. They are both naturally named after Iditarod checkpoints.
Martin and his wife Kathy Chapaton in normal surroundings - at a sled dog race. Photo: Terrie Hanke.
“I want to prove to the world that I have the best, happiest, fastest, coolest dogs in the sport. That’s always been my driver. I’ve never been a great racer.”
Martin Buser is not chasing new records anymore. His goal for this year’s race is to bring as many dogs as possible over the finish line, and most importantly: not to break his amazing streak of finishes.
Sources: buserdog.com, Anchorage Daily News, KTVA News, Alaska Public Media, iditarod.com, www.alaskasnewssource.com, Instagram, Facebook, Podcasts: Husky talk, Tales from the Trail
