Focusing on race-winning performance, along with making a positive contribution to a unique and challenging endurance sport, the QRILL Pet Mushing Team is more than ‘just’ a team. Part race equipment, part pet nutritional study, and part recruitment vehicle for the sport itself, Team QRILL Pet’s ambitions are as broad as the winter landscapes the team will be racing across.
Launching in Oslo, Norway, the predominately Norwegian team includes Thomas Wærner (winner Finnmarksløpet 2013), Marit Beate Kasin and Joar Ulsom (winner Iditarod 2018) along with the four-time winner of Iditarod, Dallas Seavey from the USA. Matching race-winning experience with future talent, the young musher, Hanna Lyrek, will also join the team.
Watch an interview with Thomas Wærner
“Races such as the Finnmarksløpet and Iditarod, are more than just races. They are adventures you experience with your dogs, teammates and fellow competitors in the great outdoors. I am honored to be part of the QRILL Pet Mushing Team where we are working with Aker BioMarine and partners on improving dogs' health and well-being. We are also building a strong foundation for our sport for the future,” says mushing champion Thomas Wærner.
The team will race at the major mushing marathon events, such as Finnmarksløpet, Iditarod and Femundsløpet. “We are thrilled and inspired by Aker BioMarine’s launch of QRILL Pet Mushing Team. We welcome their investment in a professional team and support their vision to build and increase the popularity of the sport, encouraging a new generation of mushers to take up the reins,” the chairman of Finnmarksløpet, Per Aronsen says.
“Aker BioMarine has had for a long period of time an active interest in dog mushing and paid special attention to the iconic dog mushing races held in Finnmark, Røros and Alaska. We've had a fantastic experience with our pilot sponsorships with Thomas Wærner and Joar Ulsom, helping to improve their dogs’ overall endurance and well-being,” Matts Johansen, CEO Aker BioMarine, explains.
Adding, “Together with our partner Felleskjøpet we can identify the optimal nutrition for dogs, for overall well-being and health. Thanks to this incredible sport and our inspiring mushers we will be able to really drive innovation, improving dogs’ health, along with promoting the sport. We see great potential in the sport of dog mushing.”
The QRILL Pet Mushing Team will line up for the first race of the season at Mush Synnfjell, 4-6 January 2019.
About QRILL Pet Mushing Team:
The QRILL Pet Team is the world’s first professional long-distance sled dog team. Team members are Thomas Wærner, Marit Beate Kasin, Joar Ulsom, Hanna Lyrek (all from Norway) and Dallas Seavey (USA). The team will compete in the big mushing events in the US and Norway. The strategy is to optimize dogs' health and endurance. Recruitment and collaboration in the sport are key in order to help build the sport.
See more information: Team webpage and Facebook page
About the races:
The Finnmarksløpet is the world's northernmost sled dog race. It is also Europe's longest sled dog race. The race starts on Saturday of the 10th week of the year and goes across Finnmark in Norway. The race was first run in 1981.
The Femund race is an annual long-distance dog sled race. The race starts in early February in the historical mining town of Røros, which is listed among UNESCO's World Heritage Sites.
The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is an annual long-distance sled dog race run in early March from Anchorage to Nome, entirely within the US state of Alaska.
About Aker BioMarine
Aker BioMarine is a biotech innovator and Antarctic krill-harvesting company, dedicated to improving human and planetary health. The company develops krill-based ingredients for nutraceutical, aquaculture, and animal feed applications. The company’s fully transparent value chain stretches from sustainable krill harvesting in pristine Antarctic waters through its Montevideo logistics hub, Houston production plant, and all the way to customers around the world. Aker BioMarine is fully owned by Aker ASA, an industrial pioneer since its establishment in 1841.
