HUMAN

Name: Sarah Manriquez
Age: 29
Residence: Fairbanks, Alaska
Occupation: Director of Sales and Marketing for the Fairbanks Concert Association
Years involved with Iditarod: This is my second year in the Iditarod.

Iditarod Role: I am the Digital Photo Assistant to Jeff Schultz

Current Location: Willow, Alaska 

Date of Photo: March 8, 2020
Temperature: 23F/Outdoors

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

I first got involved with Iditarod when I first moved to Alaska in 2012. I came on board with Northern Alaska Tour Company as a guide. And it was my job to learn everything I could possibly learn about Alaska, so that I could share it with other people on the tours. And a particular topic that really drew me in was dog mushing. And I took it upon myself to learn everything I could about the Iditarod. I loved this idea of mushing, the sport, all of it was so new to me. I had moved from Florida, and before that, New Mexico. And so snow and winter life was very, very new for me, and learning everything about the Iditarod became part of my job.

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

I’m here today and involved with the Iditarod because there is no other job on the planet that would ever afford me an opportunity like this. Where we travel on the Iditarod Trail is in some of the most remote parts of Alaska. And all of the villages and checkpoints that we access is by plane, because it’s off the road system. And if you were to do something like this outside of the Iditarod, just on your own, go and visit all these different villages, it would be impossibly expensive, and there wouldn’t really be anywhere for you to stay. But being a part of the Iditarod, getting to go while this amazing race is happening, affords you this opportunity that is just once in a lifetime, where you get to go to all these different villages, and they greet you with such excitement and such warmth. And it’s all circulating around this incredible race that is going through a thousand miles of remote land in Alaska. And there’s nothing like it.

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

My most memorable Iditarod experience was last year, which was my first year on the race. And I overnighted at my first checkpoint, which was Finger Lake. And in the morning, Finger Lake Lodge does this really cool thing where they cook breakfast for everyone who comes through that morning. And Jeff had gone down to the river and was going to be doing some shooting, and he told me to go get some breakfast because we didn’t know where we were going to be getting our next warm meal. So it’s always important to eat along the way on Iditarod. And so I went into the lodge and sat down and was eating breakfast. And there were a bunch of people at the table. It was a big communal table that sits about 10 people. And there was someone who was having an interview. Most people were media-type people. No one had their badge on though, except for me. And a couple people introduced themselves. And I introduced myself. And the newspaper was there from Anchorage doing an interview with someone who was sitting down. And one of the older gentlemen, he turned to me and he said, “What are you doing on the race? Are you a musher?” And I said, “Oh no, I’m helping out Jeff Schultz, I’m his assistant. Who are you? Are you mushing? Are you working on the trail?”
And he had this smile on his face and he said, “I’m a musher.” And he paused. And then he started to talk to me again. And when he started to talk to me, every single person in the room stopped speaking. They stopped eating. And they just started paying really close attention to what this man was saying to me. And he said, “So how did you get this job? I had some pretty qualified people who I sent over towards Jeff Schultz. You must have quite the resume in order to have beat all of them out.” And I just kind of looked at him for a minute. And he kind of sat up a little straight, and he said, “Let me introduce myself. I’m Jeff King.” And I sort of was dumbfounded and completely embarrassed, because I had just asked Jeff King if he was a musher, and if he was mushing the race. But to my defense, I had never seen him in person before. I had only seen him in photos and in documentary films that I had watched previously. And I’ve never seen him without a coat on either. And so I sort of had to prevent myself from my jaw just dropping open. And I looked at him and with a big smile, just all sorts of adrenaline pumping through my body, I said, “Well, I hope that I can live up to all of that and serve Jeff well while we’re on the trail.”

What do you know for sure?:

What I know for sure in life is, you can’t be afraid to beat to your own drum. Too often, society kind of has these pre-made roads for us to already walk down, whether it’s how many years it takes you to go to college or the order in which you’re supposed to do things in life, get married, have kids, et cetera. But what I’ve learned so far in life is that it’s so important to be unafraid to break away from those social norms and do the things that fit your life. And do them for you. And so if it makes sense for you to spread college out over a longer period of time, you should do that. If it makes sense for you to get married young or to never get married or whatever it may be, then that’s what you should pursue. And you should never be afraid to break away from the pre-made roads that have been set out for you. Always beat to your own drum.