HUMAN

Name: Tom Jamgochian

Age: 48
Residence: Palmer, Alaska

Occupation: Superior Court Judge, Alaska Court System

First Year Ran Iditarod: 2016

How Many Years Involved With Iditarod: 1

Iditarod Role: Musher

Current Location: Downtown Anchorage Ceremonial Start Staging Area

Date of Photo: March 7, 2026
Temperature: 16F

Question 1: What is it about running sled dogs that you love so much?

What I love about running sled dogs is, you can be out in the country in a remote location, and the only thing you hear is they’re panting or perhaps their paws on the snow.

Question 2: What, who or how and when & why did you first get involved running the Iditarod?

 

I got involved in the Iditarod because I moved to Nome as an attorney and I started collecting sled dogs just to see the country around Nome. And started out with 4 dogs. I got 6 and Iditarod is simply inescapable every March in Nome, so I started thinking about it. And before I knew it, I had 21 dogs, and I thought, well, might as well give it a go. And lo and behold, I did the qualifiers that took some effort flying the dogs out from Nome. Took a lot of effort but the stars aligned.

 

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

My most memorable Iditarod experience probably is I had this terrible chest cold in Ruby in 2016, the one time I ran it. And Normally, I baby-talk my dogs. I would talk to them, sweet talking, to wake them up and get them going. And in Ruby, I was so sick. I didn’t do that. And it was about 2 AM when I left the village and it was on the Yukon, totally dark, incredibly cold. The river’s about a mile wide at that point. And my leader, I’m confident because I didn’t baby talk him, he just stopped. We were about 5 miles out of the village and man, it took me baby talking to him about 30 to 40 minutes to get him going. And from that spot on, ‘till Nome, I baby talked to him the rest of the way. And he got me to Nome.

What in life do you know for sure?:

 

One thing I know about life from running sled dogs is, of course, everyone says it’s the trip that matters. But it’s also nice to finish. It’s also nice to get there.