Keizo Funatsu is a great adventurist who was born in 1956 in Osaka, Japan. He graduated from Kobe University. He was an office worker for a Japanese business firm but quit in 1984. After he left his regular job, he started his life as an adventurer. In 1985, he moved to Minnesota then started to learn about mushing. He joined up with the Trans-Antarctica International Expedition 1990. Now he lives in Two Rivers, Alaska with his wife were he pursues his dream of mushing. He has his own kennel. He named it the Silver Cloud Kennel, Because he imagined an Airstream camping trailer as a silver cloud when he was in Minnesota. His dream is to start his own outdoor school to teach dog mushing technics to kids.
1979 : solo run across the U.S.A. by bicycle
1984 : run across the Sahara by bicycle with 3 persons (1 of them is his wife now)
1985 : moved to Minnesota. Worked for an Outdoor school. After that, he worked as a trainer of sled dogs in Alaska, Colorado and Minnesota.
1988 - 1990 : Trans Antarctica International Expediton Member
1991 : Sled dog race Beargreeze (Minnesota), finished No.11 and Rookie of the year.
1991 : Asahi sports prize - Asahi-shinbun (one of Japans' most popular newspaper companies) presented this prize for great sportsperson.
1993 : Iditarod : Rookie of the Year / Most impressive musher award
1994 : Moved to Alaska
1995 : Iditarod : withdrawn at Safety by personel after inevitable accident between White Mountain and Safety.
1996 : IRMSSSDR : Finished 3rd place.
1996 : Top results in various local sled dog races in Alaska.
© Daisuke Tomiyasu