HUMAN
Name: Danny Seavey
Age: 43
Residence: Seward, Alaska
Occupation: Sled Dog Tour Company Owner
Years involved with Iditarod: Since I was 10 years old
Iditarod Role: Musher, media crew, handler and more
Current Location: Seward, Alaska
Date of Photo: June 20, 2025
Temperature: 65F outside
What, who or how and when did you first get involved with the Iditarod?:
So I first went to Nome when my mom was seven months pregnant with me. My dad finished his first Iditarod in 1982. Of course, I don’t remember that one. We then took several years away from mushing when we were small children. And my dad, Mitch, decided to run the Iditarod again in 1995, which was a multi-year process. So I helped him race and train and more or less do qualifiers in 1993 and then 94. And then 1995, he ran the Iditarod. And of course I was, I think 12 at the time and thought that was pretty cool. And my most vivid recollection of that year was waiting for him in Nome at the finish line under the Burled Arch. And we knew he was going to be either 19th, 20th, or 21st. He was racing John Gourley and Ramey Smyth, and he was in 20th, but Ramey was right behind him.
And of course, that was never a safe place to be. And sure enough, he hit the street and he came up and was racing down the street. And Ramey Smyth was right behind him, but he had him. He was going to stay in front of him all the way up to the chute and his rookie lead dog sat down right at the snow fence and Ramey Smyth passed him. I mean, literally a stone’s throw from the finish line, which of course in those days they paid the top 20, which meant he was out of the money. But unbeknownst to them, John Gourley had gone around the Cape instead of over the Cape. So they were actually racing for 19th and 20th. They both were in the money, but of course when they had left safety, they had been in 20 and 21 and they thought it was the big foot raise for the paycheck. And of course it was probably $5,000 or something. But that was my most vivid recollection of that race.
What is your Why? Why are you here TODAY and involved with the Iditarod?
I’m here today and still involved with the Iditarod, mostly because I believe this is a very healthy environment for young people, not just the Iditarod, but being outside and with the dogs, and there’s a connection with animals and nature and dirt and real work that I feel is maybe not present enough in modern life. And I have, I mean you can’t see right now, but there’s 20 little kids running around here behind me, and there’s another 15 or 20 teenagers that are working as part of our tour. And I just feel like this is an incredibly healthy, wholesome way for them to grow up. Not just Iditarod, but the entire sport. Responsible for the animals, outside every day, you got to be there. And to me, that’s really, really the value.
Tell me about your most memorable Iditarod experiences?:
One of my most memorable, Iditarod experiences was racing with Tim Osmar and Rachael Sedoris, and I preface this with saying, Tim Osmar is my favorite guy to mush with anywhere in the world. Tim was escorting Rachael. She’s legally blind, but of course perfectly capable of mushing on her own. And we had left the Shaktoolik checkpoint in an absolute whiteout ground blizzard. It was probably blowing 35 knots so you could go, but you couldn’t see anything. And they had left about an hour in front of me, and I had seen their headlights up there, and I was going a little quicker. So eventually I get them closer, closer, closer, and finally I catch up to Tim and he stops and he sees that it’s me. And he says, “Where’s Rachael?” I’m like, “Well, I don’t know. I assumed she was with you.” And he’s like, “No, I thought that was Rachael behind me for the last hour.”
And he was supposed to be leading Rachael through this ground storm, and neither one of us had seen her, had any idea where she was. Of course, she couldn’t see anything. And we’re out here screaming at each other, backs to the wind. So we’re side by side. Of course, you don’t want to stop because as soon as your dogs lay down and think we’re resting, that’s bad news. I’m sure that’s the most nervous I’ve ever seen Tim. So he’s like, “Well, go see if you can catch her.” I was a little quicker, so I put the hammer down and ran, jogged everything I could do all the way into Shaktoolik. And as soon as I get there, I’m screaming for a race judge and, “Somebody help us. We lost Rachael out here in the middle of a blizzard.” And he’s like, “What are you talking about? She’s been here for an hour.”
And evidently it was one of those years where they had rerouted the trail around some open water or something. And Rachael hadn’t seen the detour and had just mushed straight on across the shortcut, which of course got her there faster, but who knows what she went through in the middle of the blizzard and open water out there. She was safely camped in the checkpoint.
What do you know for sure?:
What I know for sure in life, and the older I get, it’s less and less, but we are not in control of anything. And the second you start thinking you are, you’re in trouble. And I think that is one of my favorite parts of the Iditarod is you remember just how small and insignificant and out of control you are. There is something just so much bigger and more powerful, and I love that part of the Iditarod, is it’s very humbling. This is you and you are at the mercy of much bigger forces.