Background
Buser, Martin Peter was born on March 29, 1958 in Winterthur, Switzerland. Came to the United States, 1979. Son of Peter and Anna (Maag) Buser.
Buser, Martin Peter was born on March 29, 1958 in Winterthur, Switzerland. Came to the United States, 1979. Son of Peter and Anna (Maag) Buser.
On sixteen occasions, he has finished among the top ten finishers.
Martin Buser began mushing at age seventeen in Switzerland. In 1979, Buser moved to Alaska to train and raise sled dogs full-time. His training operation, Happy Trails Kennels, is located in Big Lake, Alaska.
He entered his first Iditarod in 1980, and has run every race since 1986, his third Iditarod.
He ran the fastest finish time on the previous route which was a longer race than it is now. In 2002, the race started in Wasilla.
Now it starts in Willow, making the race about 80 miles shorter. In 2002, his team completed the the 80 mile longer race in 8 days, 22 hours, 46 minutes, and 2 seconds.
His sense of humor and positive outlook have made him a fan favorite.
In 2008, he comically caused quite a stir among fans worldwide when he accidentally gave his Global Positioning System unit to a pilot who was transporting dogs and equipment to and from a checkpoint, when the race was first introducing Global Positioning System tracking on the racers so fans could follow their paths live. Martin also has a happy-go-lucky way about him. lieutenant shows mostly clearly when he talks in highly annoying/exaggerated tone of voice to his dogs.
Other top competiters in the Iditarod, like DeeDee Jonrowe and Aliy Zirkle have found this method to work well in communicating with their dogs.
Upon completion of his fourth Iditarod victory in March 2002, Buser was naturalized as a citizen of the United States under the burled arch in Nome that marks the race"s official finish line. Buser and his Happy Trails Kennels were featured on an episode of the Discovery Channel"s Dirty Jobs program as well as on the sixth episode of Sarah Palin"s Alaska.
Rotary International.
Married Kathy Elizabeth Chapoton, 1983. Children: Nikolai Chapaton, Rohn Chapoton.
