Son of Iditarod legend building his own career

WASILLA — Rohn Buser found a great way to start 2014.

Just inside the New Year, Buser finished first in the Joe Redington Sr. Memorial Knik 200. Two weeks later, the 24-year-old Big Lake musher scored his second career victory in the Kuskokwim 300. For most mushers, the winning streak would be a perfect prelude to an Iditarod run. But rather than competing this year, Buser, son of four-time Iditarod champion Martin Buser, is watching, learning, preparing for future runs in the Last Great Race.

“We’re kind of looking at the big picture,” Buser said recently. “We don’t really have enough dogs to put together two competitive teams. I’m actually going to be on the trail, flying along the trail. I think I can learn more from that, watching, maybe picking up things I wouldn’t see.”

Buser, already a veteran of two Iditarod races, said this was the plan all along. He was set to take out the “A” team from the Buser family’s Happy Trails Kennels for the mid-distance races, and his father would use the kennel’s top team for the 2014 Iditarod. Buser said the chance to be on the trail, not racing, is a unique opportunity for a young musher, and he’s ready to take advantage and learn as much as he can.

“You don’t get to watch other mushers when you’re out there racing. You’re always busy doing something yourself,” Buser said. “With a race as complicated as the Iditarod, you can see something you maybe never thought of, a way you could do something better. It’s a long-term benefit to my racing.”

Buser said he was excited to take his dad’s “A” team to the Kuskokwim.

“After I won the Knik, I didn’t really say anything. But he said, ‘Rohn, take the “A” team to Bethel,’” Rohn Buser said of the plan for the Kusko 300. “He took the ‘B’ team.”

Just like the opportunity to use the 2014 Iditarod as a chance to learn for his future appearances in the race, Buser said he feels very fortunate to have many of the advantages or opportunities that other young mushers may not have. That’s a big reason, he said, why the younger Buser ultimately decided to pursue the family business.

“As a musher, one place where I have a huge advantage is working with a kennel that’s already up and running. I don’t have to go out and find sponsors. I have the resources available to really focus and train the team to the best of my ability to run to the best of their ability,” Buser said.

After graduating from Wasilla High School, Buser went the college route. He lived out of state for a few years. But he found his way back to the sport he grew up around — mushing.

“I started to get to the point where I realized how much knowledge I do have,” Buser said.

Between the knowledge he’s gained growing up around the sport and the resources he has access to, Buser said he couldn’t deny a career in mushing. He’s the son of a mushing legend, and was even named after one of the checkpoints on the trail.

Buser’s destined for it, but he also found it’s what he wanted to do.

“I do enjoy it a lot,” Buser said.

As he became a more serious musher, Buser noticed how much more he was focusing on his trade.

“It’s gotten to the point where I don’t go out and listen to music on a run. I don’t have to have music to pass the time. The run is what I look forward to,” Buser said.

Mushing is far from just a hobby for Buser. It’s his seven-day gig.

“This is the first year in quite a few years I haven’t gone snowboarding once,” Buser said. “I’m focusing on the dogs. This is pretty much what I’m doing every day.”

Buser (a veteran of four Junior Iditarod races and the 2007 Junior Iditarod champion) raced in his first Iditarod in 2008 as a 19-year-old. He finished 37th. In 2012, Buser notched an 18th-place finish, and scored an $11,100 piece of the race purse. He earned Most Improved Musher honors.

In early January, Buser was the first of 40 mushers to reach the finish line at Knik Lake to win the Knik 200. He finished 43 minutes ahead of Norwegian musher Joar Leifseth Ulsom.

Two weeks later, Buser outlasted four-time Iditarod champion Jeff King to win the Kusko 300. He used a late push to finish seven minutes ahead of King and won his second Kusko 300 title in three years.

“It was pretty exciting,” Buser said of the Kusko win. “When I won that race in 2012 Jeff wasn’t in it that year. It’s kind of neat. He’s got the most Kusko victories by far. He’s got nine. Mitch (Seavey) has three. I’m getting up there.”

Buser said on the heels of the Knik 200 win, he felt good heading into the Kusko.

“Going into the race, I felt better than I had prior to going into any other Kusko,” Buser said. “I knew how strong the team was, and I was pretty confident.”

Buser is excited about his success during the 2014 mid-distance races and about his chance to learn along the trail during the Iditarod. His ultimate focus is building his own team and building for his future in mushing.

“I’m working on putting together my dream team,” Buser said. “This team I’ve been running all season is certainly an awesome team, but I’m also working on a team that I’ve put together from the ground up.”