Wisconsin will be well represented in Alaska’s Iditarod sled dog race in 2025

Thirty-three mushers plan to start the world’s most famous sled dog race, the Iditarod in Alaska, on March 3.

They’ll start the race near Fairbanks and run with their teams of sled dogs for about 1,000 miles, ending in Nome. The race is Alaskan through and through, but there will be plenty of Badger state flavor in the field. Five of the competitors have Wisconsin connections, with three of them having grown up here or currently living here.

Quince Mountain, who is entering the race for the second time, and Daniel Klein, live in Wisconsin. Veteran musher Anna Berington grew up in Wisconsin with her twin sister and mushing team partner, Kristy. The 2023 Iditarod champion, Ryan Redington, lived and trained in the Northwoods. And Duluth, Minnesota, rookie musher Emily Ford spent the winter of 2021 thru-hiking more than a thousand miles of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail that bisects Wisconsin.

Quince Mountain of Mountain returns to the Iditarod to complete what he started in 2020

In his Iditarod biography, Mountain said he never expected to become a dog musher. His wife, writer and Iditarod musher Blair Braverman, was a musher before they were married, and “I gave it a try once just for fun. Of course I was hooked,” he wrote in his bio. He and Braverman formed BraverMountain Mushing and amassed a grassroots fan base that calls themselves the Ugly Dogs.

In 2020, Mountain entered the Iditarod as the first openly transgender person to compete in the race. But as COVID-19 marched across the country, he and his dog team were pulled from the course 714 miles into the 975-mile race.

The key to the race and mushing in general, Mountain wrote in his bio, is his relationship with the sled dogs. “Our dogs are courageous and strong, smart, curious and fun as all get out,” he wrote in his bio. “I can only hope some of what they have rubs off on me.”

Rookie musher Daniel Klein hails from Eagle

Klein, who trains under the Redington Mushing team umbrella, comes from Eagle, a small town in Waukesha County. In his Iditarod biography, he said, “childhood sports, then marathon and triathlon racing combined with competitive family influences, have now set the stage for the privilege of entering the Iditarod.”

He said competing against other mushers while struggling with the natural elements with a team of dogs is “compelling for me.”

Past Iditarod champion Ryan Redington trained in northern Wisconsin

According to the Redington Mushing website, 2023 Iditarod champion Redington spends the entire year in Alaska. That makes sense, because his Alaskan roots run deep, and his family is considered Iditarod royalty. His grandfather, Joe Redington Sr., co-founded the race in 1973. His father, Raymie Redington, finished the race 10 times.

But in the recent past, he spent about half the year living and training with his team and family in northern Wisconsin near Brule. Morgan Martens, who finished second in the Junior Iditarod in 2024, said Redington was influential in his mushing career. Martens worked for Redington and ran the champion’s dogs at the Junior Iditarod.

Anna Berington of Seeing Double Sled Dog Racing grew up in Northern Wisconsin

Berington and her twin sister, Kristy, are veteran Iditarod mushers. The two grew up in northern Wisconsin, graduated from South Shore High School in Port Wing, and are veterans of the Wisconsin National Guard. They now live in Knik, Alaska, and compete under the Seeing Double Sled Dog Racing team. In the past, they have both done the Iditarod, but this year they’ve focused on running mid-distance sled dog races, according to the Seeing Double website. While Anna competes in the Iditarod, Kristy is training for competitive cycling events.

Emily Ford thru-hiked Wisconsin’s Ice Age Trail in the winter of 2021

Rookie Iditarod musher Ford is from Duluth, Minnesota, but she displayed the grit and resolve she’ll need in the race when she hiked through snowstorms and sub-zero temperatures to thru-hike Wisconsin’s 1,200-mile Ice Age National Scenic Trail the winter of 2021. She was accompanied by a dog named Diggins on that adventure.

In her Iditarod biography, Ford said she fell in love with sled dog racing through her partner, Anna Hennessy. She isn’t the first Black woman to complete the sled dog race, but, she said, “I want to continue to represent Black people in cold places … and drive to show that anyone can adventure and everyone deserves to discover the outdoors, regardless of race, gender identity or upbringing.”

Keith Uhlig has been writing about Wisconsin, its people and all it has to offer since 2000. Raised in Colby, he loves wandering around the state. He can be reached at kuhlig@gannett.com, and is on Facebook, X and Threads.

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