“No one knows what he is capable of until he has tried”

This quote from the Roman poet Publilius Syrus makes the headline of the home page for Thomas Hoffmann of Bayern, Germany. He is one of those who never give up and who always tries something new. This is the fifth time that Thomas Hoffmann will start out on the Finnmark Race. The fifth time he wants to try out his own limits.

- The 2003 Finnmark Race stands so far as the greatest and most extreme challenge for dogs and the musher, Hoffmann says. The hardships bring out our mental and physical limits, and it is only through training and more training under varying conditions that you can prepare yourself and your dogs for this extreme race.

Currently, 23 Alaskan huskies live at the Hoffmann kennel. They are a good mix of young and old dogs, as Thomas focuses on the advantage that experienced dogs teach the youngsters. So far he is very pleased with this mix.

Motivation coach

Thomas Hoffmann was born in 1965 and lives together with his dogs in Germany. He works on his own as a physiotherapist, and is the owner of a fitness and wellness club. Due to his professional training and personal experiences on stretching limits, he also works as a counselor for other extreme sport athletes, and as a motivation coach. Hoffmann is an experienced musher who has participated in numerous dog-sled races throughout the years. In his opinion, the Finnmark Race is the greatest and most extreme challenge you can meet as a musher in Europe. The challenges that meet you through weather, nature and climate demands strength and courage from the musher, Hoffmann says.

Blue eyes and a longing for snow

This is the title of the book that Thomas Hoffmann has written about the Finnmark Race. It describes 1000 km through ice and loneliness in constant battle with the forces of nature. The race is also a way to find oneself. The book won the BoD Author Award 2003 at the Leipziger Buchmesse, one of the most recognized international book fairs. The independent jury noted that "Hoffmann is an author who creates a highly interesting reading based on personal experience, excitement and depth."

Hoffmann feels like home in Finnmark, and looks forward to the race this year as always. He has met a challenge this year in selecting young, enthusiastic people who can work as handlers during the race. After the book was released, he was contacted by no less than 150 people who wanted to help out. He brings two of them with him. -Six weeks ago, one of them didnÂ’t know that a dog has four legs, Hoffmann laughs, but she is full of enthusiasm. The other person is a photographer, Margrit Kierts, who recently won a European photo award. She is working on a documentary on my dog training. The photos will form an exhibition to be shown in Berlin.

No dream of Alaska

Thomas Hoffmann is not like other mushers. His dream is to travel with his dogs to Kamchatka in the Russian Far East. -There you will find vast areas with snow and ice where no one has mushed before so this is where I really want to go, says Hoffmann before returning to his dogs and some final preparations for the great challenge of this winter.

More at www.hoffmann-kennel.de