HUMAN

Name: Austin McDaniel
Age: 27
Residence: Anchorage, Alaska 
Occupation: I do PR and communications for the State of Alaska.
Years involved with Iditarod: This is my 15th year.
Iditarod Role: volunteer
Current Location: Downtown, Anchorage, Alaska. 
Date of Photo: March 7, 2020
Temperature: 14F/Outdoors

What, who or how and when did you first get involved with the Iditarod?

So I got involved with Iditarod as a student volunteer when I was in high school. Came down here and volunteered doing security here at Fourth and E Street, and was a freshman in high school and kind of caught the bug there. I love sports, love Alaska sports, and this is the Superbowl of Alaska sports. So it got me coming back every single year since then.

What is your Why?.. Why are you here today and involved in Iditarod?

So through the years I progressed my way up, and now I’m the Anchorage ceremonial start security coordinator. So I wrangle about a hundred volunteers all across Fourth Avenue between C Street and I Street. We keep the dogs safe, keep the spectators safe, from all over the world. I keep coming back every single year because of just the happiness that you see in all these folks coming from all over the world to be a part of this.

Tell me about just one of your most memorable Iditarod experiences?

One of my most memorable Iditarod experiences was, I want to say it was 2007 or 2008, and it was Governor Palin. She had just finished her vice-president run, and this was her first big public event. And we had her and her whole entourage here. We kind of shut down the whole street; her, really, return to being an Alaskan from being a national candidate for office. So that was a pretty exciting year to see kind of that whole operation as well.

What do you know for sure?:

What I know for sure in life is, is that I love my wife, I love the state of Alaska, and Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. And, God willing, I’ll be back here for the next 15, 20 years, 30 years down the road as well.