They're called mushers for the miles of snow they slush, the mountainous terrain they climb and the dogs they train. And for the next few months, MSU graduates Ed and Tasha Stielstra will endure sleep deprivation, frigid temperatures and 2- to 3-mile runs that eventually will reach 60- to 80-mile sprints by March, the time of Alaska's Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
Ed Stielstra will trudge 16 of his 76 Alaskan huskies through the arctic cool, from Anchorage to Nome, a distance of about 1,100 miles.
"It's like the Indy 500 or Super Bowl of dog-sled racing," Ed Stielstra said.
The couple owns Nature's Kennel in McMillan, Mich., in the Upper Penninsula, where they condition dozens of puppies into sled dogs as well as teach children about the training and conduct tours with their sled-dog teams.
"It's our life," Ed Stielstra said. "It's what we do - it's both of our full-time jobs."
Ed Stielstra has been raising, racing and training Alaskan huskies for more than eight years. His wife, Tasha Stielstra, said she married into it.
"I didn't really have a choice," she said. "Along with him came the dogs.
"People think we baby them a lot, but it makes them very loving and loyal dogs. You can raise a working dog that can still be your best friend and a pet."
The couple of five years, who graduated from MSU in the 1990s, began training in August to prepare for the Iditarod, the U.P. 200 and the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon.
By March, the dogs will have had more than 3,000 miles in training for the Iditarod, Ed Stielstra said. And once snow falls in the Upper Peninsula, the dogs will start training on sleds.
Unpredictable weather, a minimum amount of food and supplies and a substantial distance are just some of the challenges Ed Stielstra, a biology graduate, has to prepare for. Out of his 32 dogs training for the Iditarod, he will have to narrow the team to 16, the maximum number of dogs per team.
Stielstra also must train himself to make it through traveling for as many as 12 days with limited sleep and food.
"We run a lot and practice sleep deprivation," Stielstra said. "We'll sleep two to three hours at a time."
Despite the ample amount of training the dogs experience, Charles Decamp, chief of staff at MSU's Small Animal Clinic, said most people who work with these dogs take good care of them.
"They are highly, highly trained dogs," Decamp said. "The people who work with these dogs live with and worship them."
The Iditarod will start on March 6 in Anchorage, Alaska. More than 85 mushers from 11 states and five countries already have signed up for the race.
"The race consists of about 20 to 25 of the greatest mushers in the world, most from Alaska," Ed Stielstra said. "It's hard to reach their caliber."
Once the race begins, outside assistance is prohibited. They must pack only what they can hold on their sled. Stielstra said his packing will consist of food, booties for the dogs' feet and spare equipment.
The dogs will run 12-hour days, but the team will take breaks to sleep for a few hours early in the morning and late in the afternoon.
"You're out there racing, and you get to the point where you're exhausted and think you can't go anymore," he said.
"But you look up at the dogs and they're still going. And if they can do it for me, I can do it for them."
When the dogs aren't running, Stielstra said he's feeding, massaging and taking care of them.
The first person to take their 16-dog team to Nome wins. The Iditarod staff will reward $600,000 in prizes to the first 30 mushers to finish the race. First place will receive $68,571 and 30th will be given $1,429.
This is the first Iditarod for Ed Stielstra, who said rookies have a slim chance of placing in the top 10. He is just hoping to finish - and finish respectably.
"The trail will be a huge obstacle for a rookie," said John Baker, a resident of Kotzebue, Alaska, and eight-time Iditarod contender. "The conditions will be like none that they've seen before - a lot harder than any trail that they've been on."
Tasha Stielstra said her training isn't as extensive for the conditions she'll face, but she still does have to adjust to racing at night and extremely cold temperatures.
"By the time you're totally exhausted, the race is over," Tasha Stielstra said.
Tasha Stielstra, who received a degree in elementary education, is preparing her own team for the U.P. 200 in Marquette and the Beargrease Marathon in Duluth, Minn.
Both Ed and Tasha stumbled on sled-dog racing unexpectedly. Ed Stielstra said he always thought the sport was cruel until he helped out a friend who had a team. To his surprise, he saw the happiest dogs he'd ever seen.
"The dogs have personalities," Ed Stielstra said. "We definitely see each of their own little flares of character. There's 16 I call the A-Team - they're my kids."
