The world’s northernmost sled dog racer is Hungarian
Krisztián Roland Kiss is preparing with his team for the 2017 World Championship, held in Canada. Although he could compete in Norwegian colours, since he has been living there for 10 years, his dream is to win a medal for Hungary, szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu writes.
“I was born in Miskolc, and lived there until my love for sled dog racing and my dream to become one of the best 4-dog sprint mushers in Europe led me to Norway” Kiss writes on his Facebook page, where he shares photos and videos showing his preparations for the World Championship.
“I learned about sled dog racing while still living in Hungary. I spent 2-3 seasons competing with a Siberian Husky – Alaskan Husky team, which was later completed with Vizsla mixed breeds. I learnt a lot during these races, and it was very inspiring to see the world’s best racers up close. It was around this time that the idea to compete on their level took root. Northern Norway became the next destination, where for 2 years I trained a long distance Alaskan Husky team for 500 km races. I spent several thousand kilometres standing on the sled in each season, often among very trying Arctic weather conditions.”
“I cared for and fed 60 dogs, and learnt an awful lot in the process. In 2007, I became the first Hungarian to complete the 320 km long Norwegian competition called Pasvik Trail. I loved this period but I was fuelled by my dream to compete as a sprint racer. For this, I had to start everything from scratch again. Soon my first German Pointer/Pointer/Husky mix puppy arrived, followed by many others. This is how the story of the PolarPointer started. Hard work and training eventually had its reward.
We finished in the lead in more and more Scandinavian races, and as a result I was chosen to represent Norway in the 2011 World Championship. In 4 years, I got from nowhere to the 5th place in the World Championship. After that, I was invited to the Norwegian team for two more seasons, where I competed among the winners of European and World Championships, or the Iditarod Trail Race.”
“My greatest achievements from the past years:
World Championship 5th place
European Championship 9th place
World Cup 2nd place
Europa Cup 2nd & 3rd place
Scandinavian Championship 3rd place
Norwegian Championship 5th place
Swedish Championship 2nd & 3rd place
One of my wishes is to impart the knowledge and experience I’ve accumulated down the years to enthusiastic, young Hungarians, and to compete in world class races as part of a Hungarian team. The next challenge is going to be the 2017 World Championship in Canada, where I am competing in sprint and super sprint categories with the intention of winning the first IFSS World Championship medal for Hungary.”
Photos: facebook.com/PolarPointer-Racing-Sleddogs-Kiss-Kriszti%C3%A1n-Roland-1126831673995094/
Copy editor: bm
Source: szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu
