HUMAN

Name: Maryann Capps
Age: 63
Residence: Minnesota 
Occupation: I work at the Mayo Clinic
Years involved with Iditarod: Since 2011  
Iditarod Role: On the staging team at the Restart.
Current Location: Downtown, Anchorage, Alaska. 
Date of Photo: March 7, 2020
Temperature: 15F/Outdoors

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

I got involved in Iditarod after my interest in dog sledding started with the Beargrease Race on the north shore of Lake Superior. My friend, Pat Plunkett, was involved with Iditarod since the ’80s, and so she got me started in this wonderful race.What is your Why?..Why are you here today and involved in Iditarod?

I’m here today and involved with Iditarod because I enjoy the dogs so much. And I love winter, and it’s just such an exciting place to be and such interesting people that are involved in this race. I love being around this excitement. One of my most memorable Iditarod experiences was flying out to Shell Lake on a little plane and being at a great big, huge bonfire. We all put money on what musher was going to be coming through that area first. So we stood around in the cold, and who should come out through the woods, but Nick Petit. So we handed him a sack of money, and he was very pleased. What I know for sure in life is that I’m here temporarily, and my permanent home is in heaven.

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

One of my most memorable Iditarod experiences was flying out to Shell Lake on a little plane and being at a great big, huge bonfire. And we all put money on what musher was going to be coming through that area first. So we stood around in the cold, and who should come out through the woods, but Nick Petit. So we handed him a sack of money, and he was very pleased.

What do you know for sure?:

What I know for sure in life is that I’m here temporarily, and my permanent home is in heaven.