WYOMING — Rookie musher Remy Coste of France keeps his lead in the 2024 Pedigree Stage Stop Race on defending champion Anny Malo.
This winter’s Pedigree Stage Stop Race is keeping teams and fans guessing from leg to leg. Remy Coste is proving to be quite the challenger for the returning champion Anny Malo.
The two competitors are employing different strategies as they take on different stages of the races at varying elevations. According to a press release shared on Jan. 29 from Media Director Roger Carpenter, “Malo has been running 10 dogs each day, leaving 6 behind on the bench, Coste has been utilizing a two-team strategy, alternating eight dogs each day with all dogs in his pool having a full day off between runs,” Race competitors are allowed to pull from a pool of 16 dogs, running a maximum of 12 dogs on a given day.
“Kosta had a record day on day today with that one hour 42 minutes and 34 seconds,” Race Director Dan Carter said.
Malo won the Day 2 race in Lander, Wyoming. Coste came in with a win for the Big Piney/Marbleton stretch of the race with 2:08:16 time. Carpenter referred to it as a slim victory, giving Coste a 3:19 minute lead over the Wyoming native Malo.
Competitors are dueling for the third-place spot as well. Cathy Rivest of Quebec, Laura Bontrager of Michigan, Jess Moore of Wyoming and Michael Tetzner of Germany are separated by less than 12 minutes in positions three through six.
But all can change overnight and in different locations according to Carter.
“Elevation gain and trail conditions for each section is unique, but we may not have the same weather that we had today, tomorrow. So we’re just going to have to see, it’s supposed to start warming up and that can affect things,” Carter said.
Carter added that every musher is going to have a day or two where they could lose a little bit of time for several reasons.
“Maybe they have a little bit of a tangle or they have to move a leader or they get hung up and turned around but you know the top five mushers for sure are very experienced or professionals. They have been doing this for a long time and they’re really not having too many issues out there on the trail,” he explained.
It’s also about the pack that’s pulling the sled and making sure the team is highly conditioned, as well as highly cared for.
“They have a whole routine they go through—of course, they’re going to offer the dogs water right away and keep them hydrated, then they’ll go through a health check and regular massages.”
All paws competing this year have an on-call vet team traveling from stretch to stretch, including a veterinarian from Canada, another from Spain and a veterinarian student from Colorado.
This year’s race is certainly a nail-biter sport as the 15 teams close in on the $165,000 purse to be distributed to the winners. The leaderboard at the end of Tuesday was Remy Coste in first, Anny Malo in second, Laura Bontrager in third, Cathy Rivest in fourth and Jess Moore in fifth.
The teams compete in Kemmerer on Wednesday, Alpine on Thursday and Driggs, Idaho on Friday.
