HUMAN

Name: Corinne “Coco” Dupuis
Age: 59
Residence: Arizona
Occupation: Special education teacher. Speech language pathology assistant. Court Reporting assistant

Years involved with Iditarod: 3 years

Iditarod Role: Trail Guard, Security, Phone room, Gift Shop in Nome, Willow musher check in

Current Location: Gilbert, Arizona

Date of Photo: Feb 28, 2026
Temperature: 92F 

Question 1: What, who or how and when did you first get involved with the Iditarod:

 

I first got involved in the Iditarod in 2011 when I went up to volunteer. And how I got involved was in 2010, in the summer, my two children and I went up to Alaska and connected with some friends. And one of my friends took us to the Iditarod headquarters. And so, I wanted to volunteer because I like to help out. Plus, being a photographer also, I wanted to do some animal photography. I was going to do pet photography, but I wanted to take pictures of the dogs. But I did make a mistake my first year and forget to do the correction, white balance correction. But that’s how I started, and I did volunteering in 2011, 2012, and 2013.

Question 2: What is your Why? Why were you so involved with the Iditarod?

I stayed involved volunteering for the Iditarod because of the people I met from all different places. I just like helping out and being involved in things. So three years in a row, I was able to go up during the winter, and that’s why.

Question 3:  Tell me about just one of your most memorable Iditarod experiences.

 

So, my most memorable Iditarod experience was when my children and I went to GB Jones’s kennel, and this was before the race. He had his dogs hooked up to sleds, and we could actually drive the sleds around the meadow by his kennel. He’s right on the official Iditarod trail, and that was a lot of fun. I wanted to do more, and unfortunately, I haven’t been able to, but that really got me hooked that one year.

What in life do you know for sure?:

 

What I know for sure in life is that it’s not what you expect it to be. You think something’s going to happen and it doesn’t, or you think something’s not going to happen and it does.