2024 Iditarod: Meet the mushers

Erin Altemus*

Grand Rapids, Michigan

My husband and I have been racing dogs for 12 years. We learned to run dogs at YMCA Camp Menogyn and a few years later we acquired our own team. A mushing friend invited us to a race and soon we were breeding dogs and racing. We now have 30 dogs in our kennel located near Grand Marais, MN. I work as a nurse at the local hospital. Our usual roster of races includes the Beargrease, UP200, Can-Am and Gunflint Mail Run. We have both wanted to run Iditarod for many years but the dream was sidelined for a while after the birth of our daughter Sylvia, now six. Now we have the right team and the right circumstances and look forward to seeing Alaska behind a dog team.

Travis Beals

Seward

grew up in Seward, Alaska. When I was young, my mom had a small sprint team on 2nd avenue right in the thick of town. As a toddler, I ran one-dog races and was often found curled up sleeping with my dogs in their houses outside. My parents divorced when I was young and shortly after we sold the dogs. I wanted to get back into dogs and even as a young boy felt that dog mushing was my calling.

I was fourteen when my mom said if I could pay for them, I was welcome to get my own dog team. I got my first job, working at a summer dog sled tour operation and shortly after got my first dogs. I’ve been racing and training my own dogs ever since.

In 2009 I ran Jr. Iditarod at 17 years old with a team of dogs I trained on my own. That year I finished in 2nd, behind Cain Carter who was racing Lance Mackey’s A-team that went on to win the full 1,000-mile race two weeks later.

In 2011, I met my partner Sarah. In 2012, we turned our kennel into a successful summer tour operation where we give summer dog sled rides. The following year we took over Seward Helicopter Tours and began offering glacier dog sledding tours — allowing summertime visitors the opportunity to dog sled on snow. I’m blessed to be able to do what I love for work.

I’ve raced nine Iditarods and each year have brought a competitive team to the event. For the past several years, we’ve spent winters in dry cabins and had to move our team around every 6 months. This year, Sarah and I welcomed our son, Elias. Being a father has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.

Because we welcomed a son, the dry cabin life style was no longer going to cut it. This year we bought a house in Knik with trail access and it’s been a game changer. I’ve always dreamed of winning Iditarod and, although I’ve always brought a competitive team, I’m starting to get to a point where the things in my life outside of mushing are in order to truly help make that happen.

I’ve received a sportsmanship award every year for the last four years from various races including the 2022 Iditarod. These have been truly meaningful awards for me and I’m proud to be recognized by my peers in this capacity.

I’m fired up for a great run in Iditarod 2024 and couldn’t be more grateful to my dogs and my family.

Anna Berington

Knik

The team will be trained by both twins Anna and Kristy. Anna is lucky enough to take the team while Kristy does the Yukon Quest and other races. It will be hard without her.

Aaron Burmeister

Nome

Dog mushing has been a way of life since I was born. Iditarod is a celebration of Alaska’s rich history and the coming of spring across the state. Racing the Iditarod for me is the proving ground for our breed of dogs and the time on the trail meeting old friends and making new ones.

There is nothing I have found that compares to the challenge of training, building, breeding, preparing for and traveling across 1,000 miles of Mother Nature’s bounty by dog team during Iditarod. It is an honor to be able to participate in the Iditarod and be a part of celebrating the history of the state sport.

Severin Cathry*

Airolo, Switzerland

The outdoors and animals were always mine. As a young kid already I worked all summer long and much of my free time on a dairy farm. After two classmates of mine moved to Canada with their families I knew I also wanted to see Alaska and Canada. 2010 was finally the summer I came the first time to Alaska and got in touch with a real sled dog team and I’ve been hooked ever since.

Calvin Daugherty*

Sterling

I love the sport of mushing. It’s all about the dogs for me. I’ve wanted to do the Iditarod ever since I first read about it as a kid, but when I watched my dad leave the start line on his first Iditarod the dream of racing one day solidified in my mind. I’m so thankful for all the mentors that have helped me get here today. Firstly my dad, Jim Lanier, Becky Lewis, Gerhardt Thiart, Christian Turner, and of course, the great and powerful Mitch Seavey

Jeff Deeter

Fairbanks

Jeff Deeter, 35, is back for his seventh Iditarod. After taking last year off to support his wife, KattiJo, with her successful run to Nome, Jeff is looking to best his previous 12th-place finish from 2021. “This team is comprised of our best, most experienced race veterans, and with the exception of only a couple team members, all have been to Nome multiple times over the last handful of years.”

After running his first Iditarod in 2008, at the age of 19, Jeff took ten years away from the race to focus on building a home and business in Fairbanks, Alaska. Together with his wife, they own and operate Black Spruce Dog Sledding, a year-round tour business, focused on educating people about the sport and lifestyle of long-distance dog mushing. In addition to Iditarod, Jeff has also run numerous other races around the state of Alaska. In 2023, he ran the Kuskokwim 300 and Kobuk 440 for the first time, winning the Humanitarian Award in both races.

Gabe Dunham*

Willow

I was born and raised in Fairbanks then my family moved to Valdez where I discovered my passion for outdoor adventures and animals. I started running sled dogs when I was about 16 and ran my first race when I was 18, the Denali Dash 120 with only five dogs. I moved to Willow where I worked for the Fiedlers and Alaska Heli-mush who mentored and taught me the best dog care and successful training techniques. In 2011 I moved to Bend, Oregon where I completed a degree in Fish and Wildlife Management with OSU. I had a small team of dogs and would enter every race I could get to from the Bachelor Butte to Wyoming Stage Stop. I moved to Montana while running my sled-dog tour business, Evermore Adventures, in 2018. This just drove my passion for mushing even more. In 2019 I became the first woman to finish the Rocky Mountain Triple Crown, taking 2nd place. In 2020 I set a course record in the Eagle Cap Extreme 200, and took 2nd place in Race to the Sky 300. Today I have 26 wonderful Alaskan huskies that love to go on adventures. We’re all looking forward to running down the Iditarod trail.

I would also like to take this moment to thank everyone who has helped me along the way. You’re too numerous to name on here but you know who you are! The Evermore dogs and I are eternally grateful for your support.

Paige Drobny

Cantwell

Paige Drobny was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and says she moved all over growing up. She graduated from Virginia Tech in 1997 with her B.S. in Biology and from UAF in 2008 with her M.S. in Fisheries Oceanography. Before moving to Fairbanks in 2005 for graduate school, she lived in Colorado and was a fisheries biologist. “I enjoy the outdoor lifestyle. I work as a fishery biologist and help my husband, Cody Strathe, build dogsleds for our company, DogPaddle Designs, during the summer. Our mushing started in 2006 as a way to explore the wilds of Alaska with no plan to ever do any racing. We spent several years camping and traveling with our dogs. In 2010, Cody and I decided to give it a whirl and entered the GinGin 200 together…we had a blast, and suddenly we were on the slippery slope.” Paige has run the Iditarod eight times.

Lauro Eklund*

Two Rivers

Eklund is a rookie residing in Two Rivers.

Matthew Failor

Willow

Matthew Failor is a veteran Iditarod musher, Kuskokwim 300 Champion, and multi-time humanitarian award winner in mid-distance racing.

He and his wife Liz own and operate Alaskan Husky Adventures in Willow, Alaska, where they offer locals and visitors a chance to meet their Iditarod team and experience the joy of dog mushing for themselves.

Their race team name, 17th-Dog, is a tribute to their supporters. For many years, mushers could take 16 dogs on the Iditarod. Family, friends, and fans of the team are symbolically dubbed the 17th-Dog that make it possible to race.

Benjamin Good*

North Pole

I am originally from Greenville, PA. In 2002 I married my wife and moved to Anchorage, Alaska for a “two-year adventure.” 21 years later we are still here raising a family and living the Alaska dream. I started mushing dogs when I moved to North Pole, AK skijoring with two dogs from Aaron Burmeister on the Chena River. My feet got cold so I got a couple more dogs and a sled and it took off from there. I want to thank my wife for her bottomless well of support in this mushing lifestyle and thank my kids Will, Julia, and Iris for their support.

Matt Hall

Two Rivers

Matt Hall, 32, was born and raised in Eagle, Alaska on the Yukon River, where he worked his trap line with his sled dogs and guided week long expeditions for his parents’ company, Bush Alaska Expeditions. He started mushing when he was just two years old and that began his dream of racing. The first generation of pups that would create the foundation of his future race team was then born the summer he turned 16. He moved to Two Rivers, Alaska, to pursue competitive racing and completed his first long-distance race, the Yukon Quest 1000, at the age of 22. His off-grid kennel, Silver Ace Kennel, sits on a 40-acre parcel of land next to the Chena River that he shares with his wife, Elke. For the last 14 summers, he has lived and managed for Alaska Icefield Expeditions on the Denver, Mendenhall and Norris Glaciers. Winters are spent training and guiding tours with one of his largest sponsors, Rod’s Alaskan Guide Service. At the age of 26 he was the Yukon Quest 1000 champion of 2017 and finished in 4th place in last year’s Iditarod 2023. He continues his racing career by now competing in his sixth Iditarod of 2024.

Anna Hennessy*

Willow

Born a winter lover, Anna first stepped on the runners of a dogsled on a blustery lake in northern Minnesota and knew that her life was forever changed. She began working with sled dogs in both Minnesota and Alaska by guiding dog sled trips and sharing her passion for mushing with others. From 2018 to 2021 she raced and trained with Sawtooth Racing, a kennel owned by good friends in Grand Marais Minnesota. Always dreaming about someday running the Iditarod, Anna decided to make the dream a reality and moved to Alaska in 2022 to race and train for Iditarod with Shameless Huskies Kennel. Anna completed her Iditarod qualifying races in 2023. When not training and racing dogs, Anna works as an ER nurse and wilderness guide leading expeditions for teens and fostering the adventurous spirit, resilience and self-empowerment for other young women that she herself learned from years of outdoor pursuits.

Jessie Holmes

Brushkana

Jessie Holmes was born and raised in Alabama. He left there at the age of 18 to go see Alaska. But he ended up in Montana where he worked as a carpenter for three years. He came to Alaska in 2004 looking for adventure and found it running dogs on a remote trap line on the Yukon River. This love for the wilderness and dogs eventually led to his competing in many races, both sprint and distance. He won the Kobuk 440 in 2017 and placed seventh in the 2018 Iditarod, taking home the honor of being the “Rookie of the Year” in that Iditarod. A subsistence resident of Nenana, Jessie currently works as a carpenter and TV personality, appearing in Life below Zero, a documentary television show about the daily lives of people living in remote Alaska. He lists his hobbies as running ultra-marathons, hunting and fishing.

Peter Kaiser

Bethel

Peter Kaiser, 36, was born and raised in Bethel, Alaska. He graduated from Bethel High School in 2005 and has worked for Knik Construction/Lynden for the last twelve years. He says, “Our family has always had dogs, and I’ve been mushing since I was a kid. Watching the Kuskokwim 300 every January sparked my interest in long distance racing, and a few years ago I decided that I would give the Iditarod a try.” He has finished in the top 10 seven times including a first place finish in 2019. Peter says he enjoys boats, hunting, and fishing. He and his wife, Bethany, are the parents of Ari and Aylee.

Hunter Keefe

Knik

Hunter has dreamed of running since he was six years old. Born and raised in Michigan, he first started mushing in middle school. As soon as he graduated high school he came up to Alaska in 2018 to start working with the distance dogs. Hunter has been fortunate enough to be entrusted with Raymie Redington’s dog team since 2020. He is super excited to be back with Raymie’s team for the 2024 Iditarod!

Lara Kittelson*

Battle Ground, Washington

I was born and raised in the PNW and spent most of my adolescent years exploring my hometown mountains around Battle Ground, WA. Hiking and swimming were integral parts of growing up and that all contributed to a desire to find a big adventure. My dad’s stories of Alaska were embedded in my mind since a young age, so right after graduating high school I boarded a plane destined for the Last Frontier. My first experience with sled dogs was at Mitch Seavey’s kennel as the yearling trainer. The crazy, goofy yearlings and I learned right alongside as they grew up. Fast forward a few years, a few qualifying races, and the opportunity to run the Iditarod has arrived. It is a dream come true to explore the Iditarod trail with pups I’ve known since they were little tater tots. Writing my novel and wood burning are my indoor hobbies when not out mushing with the dogs. Mush on!

Jessica Klejka

Wasilla

Jessica grew up mushing in Bethel with her younger siblings (Jenny, Jeremiah, Jesse, Josh, Joan and Jordan). Her love for dogs started with – a Bethel rescue dog named Jed. At 8 she started mushing three dogs from her father’s rec team, going out with her siblings. She listened to stories and received advice from local long-distance mushers Myron Angstman, Tomas Israelsson, Ron Kaiser and Bev Hoffman and she remembers Jeff King presenting to her 6th grade class. Her first long-distance race was the K-300 Race Committee’s 100-mile camp out race when she was 12 years old. She realized the strongest bond formed with a dog is when you and the dog are out together for days at a time.

In high school, she won the Jr. Iditarod. Jessica obtained her BS degree from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, allowing her to continue mushing during breaks, and dog sitting for local teams. She worked her summers on a Glacier for Alaska-Helimush owned by Iditarod Musher Linwood Fiedler and got to take her dog team with her.

Jessica attended Washington State University’s Vet School and she owns Knik Veterinary clinic serving the communities of Bethel, Naknek and Kotzebue. When she’s not mushing her favorite hobbies are anything animal related and flying around Alaska with her husband and pilot Sam.

Jason Mackey

Fairbanks

I was born and raised into the sport and have always been passionate about the Iditarod, it’s what my family loves. This year’s race will be my second year back after taking some time off and re-building our kennel. After the passing of my brother Lance last September, my wife and I and Lance’s spiritual wife Seane have pulled together and we are excited to have blended Top Notch Kennel and Come Back Kennel into one, now known as Mackey’s Top Notch Come Back Kennel, Fairbanks, Alaska.

We’re entering the Iditarod this year to prove that this kennel is as good as we know it is and with that, “Mack is Back”.

Connor McMahon*

Carcross, Yukon Territory

I have worked with dogs since I was 15 years old, and once I met and worked with sled dogs, it is all I have done since.

Bryce Mumford*

Preston, Idaho

Bryce Mumford, 43, lives in Preston, Idaho, with his wife, Lindsay, and their two children, Anna and Connor. His love of the outdoors and adventure started young, with his father, Rex, encouraging him with hunting, fishing, river rafting and camping.

In 2008, an Iditarod television series got him interested in sled dogs and the Iditarod. It wasn’t very long before he got his first sled dogs. When he started racing dogs in longer races, his father was recruited to be his handler. His kids also began mushing in junior races. After a few years, his father decided he wanted to give mushing a try. It has become a hobby for the whole family. When Rex, Bryce and Anna ran the Idaho Sled Dog Challenge, a 100 mile race, together in 2022, they were dubbed by the local paper as the Mushing Mumfords. Their adventures as a family have brought them closer together and have helped them pursue challenging goals and endure difficult times. Without his family, pursuing Bryce’s dream of running the Iditarod would not be possible.

Bryce has run multiple mid-distance races including Montana’s Race to the Sky 300, the Eagle Cap Extreme 200 in Oregon, and the Idaho Sled Dog Challenge 300. Finishing his first 300-mile race and being awarded The Best Cared for Team in the Race to the Sky was a highlight. He loves spending time with his dogs and watching them grow and work.

Bryce would like to thank his parents for making this dream possible, his uncles and handlers, Jim, Gary and Sterling, and his wife and kids for allowing him to pursue the adventure of Iditarod. He would also like to thank the other mushers who’ve encouraged and helped him along the way.

Deke Naaktgeboren

Fairbanks

I’m living the Alaskan Dream! I moved here in 2011 to mush and that’s what we do! I have an amazing job with the Bureau of Land Management working in Chicken, Alaska during the summers and have winters off. This situation allows me to 100% focus on training my dogs during the winter months and run Iditarod. In short I work so I can mush to fuel the passion.

I’m super proud that we run what we raise inside our kennel and find good retirement homes for those dogs that are ready to move on. Every single dog on my Iditarod team has been born here in our kennel and our biggest strength is our trust between each other. Just as important as the dog team is the human team, and Nolan, Nikki, Eric and Jonah are back again to care for, train and race the dogs. They are the best and it takes a team to make the Iditarod dream happen.

As Joe Dirt would say, “Life’s a garden, dig it!”

Amanda Otto

Victor, Idaho

Otto predominately grew up in Idaho and was first introduced to the world of dog mushing at age 8 at the Ashton Dog Derby in Ashton, ID.

She came to Alaska in 2016 to run dogs after suffering a career-ending injury (soccer) during her senior year of college. She began handling for Jeff King at Husky Homestead in 2020 and made her racing debut in 2021, completing all her qualifiers in a single season. She ran the Iditarod in 2022 and placed second at the Yukon Quest 550 (2023) where she also received the Vet’s Choice Award for her dog care.

Dogs have and will always be woven into the fabric of Otto’s life and she would like to thank Jeff King, Husky Homestead and sponsors near and far for the opportunity to be on the trail again.

Nicolas Petit

Big Lake

Nicolas was born in France, raised in New Mexico and moved to Alaska. He began racing in 2011. “My dogs and I enjoy showing off their amazing abilities while enjoying the wonders of the Iditarod Trail.”

Mats Pettersson

Kiruna, Sweden

The passion for Nature and dogs and the cooperation between human and dogs makes me do this, and all musher friends in Alaska that open their homes and friendship for me make me come back year after year and it’s the ultimate goal for me and the dogs to get the results for the training we put together.

Millie Porslid

Denmark

Mille started mushing in 1992, running a team of Polar Husky sled dogs for polar explorer Will Steger on a three-month-long dog sled expedition in Canada. She was hooked. Ever since Mille has lived with her sled dogs to experience the people and places in the magical North while finding ways to share the adventures with people around the world. She has slept more than 1,000 nights in a tent on the dog sled expeditions and feels very at home anywhere in the circumpolar Arctic. Mille has executed 15 long-haul expeditions with her Polar Husky freight dogs. Each expedition lasted two to six months and was as long as 3,000 miles in Greenland, Russia, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Alaska and crisscrossing Canada. In 2011 she entered her first sled dog race, running the 800-mile Nadezhda Hope race in Chukotka, Russia. Mille then moved to Alaska with Team Racing Beringia and her then partner. Together they trained and raced with great success that culminated in 2018 with his Iditarod championship.

Mille was born and grew up in Denmark until she came to America and did that first dog sled expedition at 18 years old. Her great-grandfather founded the world’s first Arctic research station in Greenland. His sons traveled Arctic North America by dog team and canoe in the 1920’s, the “normal” son being Mille’s grandfather who left Greenland to live back in Denmark. Growing up Mille would sit in his basement surrounded by drawings, mystical carvings and seal skin clothing, listening to his adventures as a kid across the ice with his sled dogs. That’s when Mille imagined she wanted to grow up to live her life with sled dogs.

The 2020 Iditarod Rookie of the Year, Mille in 2021 was the proud recipient of the Leonhard Seppala Humanitarian Award for her care of the dogs during the race, while she set a new time-record for mushers from outside the US. Mille lives in Alaska with her sled dogs, but she is still Danish. She will be racing the 2024 Iditarod for Team Racing Beringia.

Ryan Redington

Knik

I am racing Iditarod because I love the Iditarod and the dogs. My grandfather is Joe Redington Sr. He is known as the ‘Father of the Iditarod’ for starting the race in 1973. My dad is Raymie who has raced in the Iditarod 14 times. My grandpa, dad and Uncle Joee are all in the Mushing Hall of Fame. My daughter Eve and son TJ are also carrying on the family tradition racing. They love dogs and mushing. www.redingtonmushing.com

Jeff Reid*

Two Rivers

A few months before leaving the Navy, my beloved dog Frank, who I rescued from Afghanistan, tragically passed away in a car accident. Losing Frank was incredibly difficult, and I felt like I would never connect with a dog in the same way again. However, reading Gary Paulsen’s book “Winterdance,” which centers on the Iditarod, sparked an idea…perhaps I could find that special bond with a team of sled dogs while running this challenging race.

My wife and I decided to turn this dream into a reality. We moved to Alaska in 2017, where I learned the art of dog mushing from Aliy Zirkle and Allen Moore while handling for SP Kennel. After that first season, my wife and I acquired dogs from SP Kennel and purchased property along with 6 dogs from Sebastian Schnuelle; giving birth to Frozen Trident Kennel. Over the next few years, we expanded our kennel alongside growing our family, juggling puppies and babies. We diligently worked toward qualifying for the Iditarod, and last year, we completed our final 300-mile qualifying race, bringing us one step closer to our main goal…running the Iditarod.

Will Rhodes*

Two Rivers

Will was born and raised in the northwest corner of California and moved to Alaska over 20 years ago. He was introduced to dog mushing during the winter of ’98, training dogs with Joe May in the southern Yukon. In 2000 Will met his future wife, Brenda Mackey, on the Juneau Icefield where they worked as sled dog tour guides. Will and Brenda attended UAF and raised their daughter, Isabel, before developing their own kennel in Two Rivers, AK in 2012. Will splits his time dog mushing working as a professional geologist and project manager for Ahtna Engineering Services.

Will has competed in many mid-distance races throughout Alaska since he began racing in 2013 and has received the Humanitarian Award. For Will, breeding, training, and racing sled dogs is an extremely rewarding experience, second to none. He looks forward to traveling the Iditarod Trail with his young and talented dog team.

He is married to Brenda Mackey and they are the parents of Isabel Rhodes.

Wally Robinson

Nenana

Walter Robinson is running Josh McNeal’s dog team in the 2024 lditarod. Josh was planning on racing to Nome until an injury put him on the sidelines. Josh needed a musher to take his place and asked his friend Wally if he would run the team. Wally will be running with the goal of giving Josh and Jobie a happy, healthy dog team at the finish line. Wally is looking forward to traveling one of the best trails in the world with an awesome team of dogs.

Wally moved to Alaska in 1999 to run the 2001 lditarod and never left. He and his wife Alissa live in Nenana, AK, with their two children Emily and Stanley. Wally turned his dog team over to his daughter Emily to support her as she grew her racing career. He races when he can, but for many years his focus has been coaching his kids. When not mushing, the family travels to their remote cabin, fishes, hunts and explores Alaska.

Joshua Robbins*

Willow

This is my fourth year running sled dogs and with each season I continue to fall in love with the sport. It’s been fun learning the team, strengthening our bond and exploring new grounds. As a rookie to the Iditarod this year my goal is to complete the race and inspire others to try new things and not be afraid of failure. I look forward to wearing my patriotic parka to represent the veteran community and honor those who fought for this country. I’m thankful for the opportunity to run the Iditarod Trail and look forward to the challenge.

Jessie Royer

Seeley Lake, Montana

Jessie Royer, 46, was born in Idaho. She grew up on a cattle ranch in Montana where she lived for 21 years. She worked on ranches as a horse wrangler and horse teamster. She says she got her first sled dogs when she was 15. She started learning about dogs from Doug Swingley whom she worked with for a couple of years. She had dogs in Montana seven years before moving to Alaska in the spring on 1998. She won Montana’s Race to the Sky when she was only 17, and she was the winner of the invitational La Grande Odyssée in France in 2005. She says her hobbies are horses, hunting and mounted shooting.

Dallas Seavey

Talkeetna

Dallas Seavey was born in Virginia and his family moved back to Seward when he was five. He is a third generation musher who grew up helping his dad, Mitch, the 2004/2013/2018 Iditarod champion, train his racing teams. He ran the Jr. Iditarod four times and in 2005, Dallas became the youngest musher in history to run the Iditarod. He also wrestled for Sky View High School and spent one year training at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. He is a High School State Champion, a Jr. National Champion, and was on the 2005 Jr. World team. In 2011, he won the Yukon Quest and in 2012, he became the youngest Iditarod champion in its history. He is one of four mushers ever to hold a championship in both the Yukon Quest and Iditarod, and one of two mushers to have won the Iditarod five times.

Isaac Teaford*

Salt Lake City, Utah

Isaac Teaford was born in Kennewick, Washington and grew up mostly around Salt Lake City, Utah. After traveling the world with the Navy and serving two deployments overseas, Isaac set out for Alaska where he guided everything from fly-out pack rafting and backpacking trips in the bush, to ice climbing and back country skiing. Isaac is no stranger to adversity and harsh conditions. His love for dog mushing brought him to Dallas Seavey’s kennel in Talkeetna Alaska, where he now calls home. After finishing several mid-distance races (Ididntrod 200, Knik 200, Willow 300) Dallas decided it was time to see what Isaac could do with a competitive team in the Yukon Quest 300 last year. His 2nd place finish only further fueled his Iditarod fire. Isaac has trained at the Dallas Seavey racing kennel for five years and has raised the dogs in harness before him since puppies.

Josi Thyr*

Fairbanks

I started racing sled dogs in Idaho as a kid but always dreamed of doing the Iditarod. As a teenager I came up (to Alaska) and handled for Aaron Burmeister, then began working on qualifiers. Eventually I handled for Jessie Royer in Montana and completed my qualifiers. In the spring of 2023 I moved to Fairbanks and I’m very excited to be on my way to completing a twenty-year dream!

Bailey Vitello

Milan, New Hampshire

Bailey Cross Vitello is a 26-year-old second-generation musher from Milan, NH. Last year he completed a lifelong dream, crossing the Iditarod finish line with a happy and healthy dog team in 24th place. In addition to finishing Iditarod on his first try, he received Rookie of the Year at the 2023 Kobuk 440 coming in 5th place among a group of well-established distance mushers. Training in Alaska with such early snow has been a game changer and he is happy to call Nenana, AK his home away from home. Bailey is very excited and determined to take on the 2024 Iditarod Trail with a competitive race schedule and an incredible dog team. This is sure to be a very exciting race season for Team Bailey and he wants to thank each and every person who supports the team whether it’s cheering them on, sponsoring a dog or giving advice along the way.