The Team

Meet your team for 2018

Fleur & Curt

Fleur and Curt’s love of sled dogs started in the late 1990’s when they acquired their first Northern breed dog, an Alaskan Malamute. One quickly led to five. For fun they began to run dogs recreationally in NZ, entering events around the country. In 2007 they relocated to the United States with their 5 malamutes. Later that year they had the opportunity to move to northern Minnesota where they handled for Jamie Nelson, an accomplished distance racer and talented sled dog trainer. During this period Jamie became their mentor as they built, trained and raced their own team throughout the lower 48 states.

Fleur and Curt ran numerous mid-distance and distance races between Montana and Michigan in events between 60 – 400 miles and in 2011 won “Race to the Sky”, Montana’s premier 350 mile race. During their time racing in the lower 48 they won the Best Kept / Cared for Team award twice, including the John Beargrease Marathon, a 400 mile race along the North Shore of Lake Superior.

In 2011 they relocated to the Yukon Territories in Northern Canada and established their kennel of over 40 dogs. There they trained for their upcoming season in Alaska. In March 2012 they became the first and only New Zealand team to have finished Iditarod – The Last Great Race, a dog sled race traversing 1000 miles of remote Alaskan terrain, finishing under the burled arch in Nome with 9 dogs in 39th place.

In mid 2012 the team relocated to Willow Alaska to be closer to the racing circuit and as of March 2013 completed their second Iditarod finishing in 27th place with 10 dogs. In 2014 they became the first NZ team to complete the Yukon Quest and  two weeks later ran their third Iditarod.  One of less then 25 teams to ever run both 1000 mile races back to back in the same year.  During their time in North America Fleur and Curt have run thousands of miles, training, racing and just for fun. They still maintain their race team in Willow, Alaska and continue to train and race them in the off peak NZ season.

Sled dogs have become their lives and 2013 was their first season operating their new venture “Underdog New Zealand” showcasing the very same dogs that they have worked with in North America, allowing them to share their dogs and love of dogs with New Zealand and those that visit.

John & Stef

Originally from the UK, John has spent the last decade travelling and is now settled in New Zealand permenantly.

Stef, a Kiwi from the North Island collected John in Queenstown on her own travels many years ago and they have spent their time visiting and working in many countries until returning to New Zealand in 2018.

They both began working with Alaskan Huskies in B.C/Alberta Canada between 2016 and 2018 as tour guides, having always wanted to run sled dogs. Asked how they got into it, John will reply “We just asked, really nicely.”

When they left Canada, they also took one of their favourite working dogs back home with them – Zip, the Alaskan husky has also joined the Under Dog team.
Stef and John also spent two years, gaining valuable experience looking after dogs and other animals in a small petting zoo / rescue center in Iceland.

Tony

Tony became involved with sled dogs in 1992 with his first Alaskan Malamute, Nishlik. The number of malamutes quickly increased to four as his love for the breed grew. He was introduced to dog showing in South Australia by the breeder, but soon moved onto dog sledding and became a member of a local club where he began competing in Australian dirt and snow racing. In the late 1990’s, the team and Tony relocated to Victoria to take up the role of kennel assistant.

Over the next few years he developed, Alaxsxaq kennels, building his experience and knowledge of the dogs and the sport. As the kennel grew, he began to train larger teams and when 8 dog class was finally included across Australia, went on to be the first to race an Alaskan malamute 8 dog team on dirt and snow, unfortunately his malamutes were all aging by then

In 2010, he was introduced to the Alaskan Husky, Silvarock Kennels began when Wzu, Chevy and Anchor came along. The team grew again and went on to race 8 dog class successfully in dirt and snow races. Over the past 3 years he has had the opportunity to become involved in snow racing in New Zealand.