Musher Biographies

 

Mrs. Gianoukakis' Mushers 

John Baker is forty years old. He was born in Kotzebue, Alaska. John started mushing at sixteen years old. He has finished in twenty-second place twice, eleventh place, eighth place, sixth place, fifth place and third place. John has recieved two awards: the Dorathy G. Page Halfway Award and the Regal Alaskan's First Musher to theYukon Award.

Vern Halter is the second musher our class is going to follow. This is his fifteenth Iditarod. He has placed in the top ten six times. His best finish was third in 1999. He was born in South Dakota but now lives in Alaska. His lead dogs for this year are Fiddle, Cello, Mt. Dew and Licorice. We hope his experience will pay off.

One of the mushers our class picked is Jeff King. Jeff King is a very experienced dog sled musher. He has raced many times, and won the Iditarod three times. He is also the winner of the Yukon Quest.He lives with his family in Alaska. Our class hopes he will do well.

Cali King will be the other musher our class roots for in the Iditarod 2003. Cali King is Jeff King's daughter. She won the 2002 Jr. Iditarod. She enjoys playing many sports. Cali is only eighteen years old. We hope this father and daughter team will be a great success.

Jessica Royer has been a musher for eight years. She loves animals, especially dogs and horses. Jessica also likes to hunt and draw. She grew up on a ranch in Montana. This year's race will be Jessica's second Iditarod. She won "Rookie of the Year" in 2001 when she came in 14th place.

Ramey Smyth claims he has been mushing since he was born. He raced in the Iditarod eight times and his best position was 6th place in 1998. Both of Ramey Smyth's parents were mushers, too. Besides mushing, he enjoys boxing, hunting, reading and soccer. He is also a firefighter, carpenter, and hunting guide.

Our class in cheering for Jessica Hendricks for the 2003 Iditarod. She is 20 years old and is one of the youngest mushers. She has run in the Junior Iditarod and the Junior Quest. Jessica is a rookie. (A rookie is someone racing in the Iditarod for the first time.) She is not married and enjoys hunting and fishing. We would like to see this rookie do well this year.

Rick Swenson is one of the best mushers in the Iditarod. He is the only person to win the race 5 times. He won the second time he entered the race. The first time he raced he came in 10th place. We really hope this great musher wins this year’s Iditarod. Rick moved to Alaska when he was 22 to race in the Iditarod. He was born in 1951, and is now 52. He has three children. He also likes gold mining, snowmobiling, sled building and woodworking.

Our class chose to follow Martin Buser in the 2003 Iditarod race. He won first place in the 2002 Iditarod race in record time, 8 days, 22 hours, 46 minutes, and 2 seconds. He has won the race four times. This is his 20th Iditarod. He names his dogs after famous politicians - like Bill, Al Gore, and Hillary, or occasions- like Prancer, Rudolph, and Dancer who were born in December. He likes to make his own gear for racing and training, such as his sled bag and harnesses. He was born in Switzerland and became a U.S. citizen last year at the end of the Iditarod race. We think Martin Buser is a good musher to cheer for.

Our class is following Jon Little in the 2003 Iditarod because he placed 4th last year in the 2002 Iditarod. This is his 5th Iditarod. He works full time as a reporter for the Anchorage Daily News, and racing is his hobby. He has a small kennel with 25 adult dogs and 8 puppies, so he can give them more attention than a bigger kennel. He grew up in Seattle and moved to Alaska in 1987. We are looking forward to following him in the 2003 Iditarod.