HUMAN

Name: Sara Short

Age: 34
Residence: Oregon
Occupation: I am a veterinary technician for the race
Years involved with Iditarod: 6

Iditarod Role: 6Veterinary technician for return dog
Current Location: Unalakleet, Alaska. 
Date of Photo: March 16, 2020
Temperature: 28F/Outdoors

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

I got involved with Iditarod because I grew up here as a child with a military family. My dad used to take me to as many checkpoints as he possibly could, including ceremonial start and restart. I met – Martin Buser was my first musher that I ever met in person, and I was five years old. And after that I loved watching the dogs every year. It is one of the major reasons why I became a veterinary technician so eventually I could work for the race.

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

One of my most memorable Iditarod experiences was my first time working with Jan with the ECG pre-race program. We were driving to Fairbanks and the weather was awful. She hit something with the bumper of the truck, and it ripped off the entire bumper. All of us outpoured out of the truck on the side of the road trying to figure out how to put the bumper back on. And Jan was just like, “Oh, well.”

What do you know for sure?:

What I know for sure in life is that I absolutely love this race, and I would do whatever in my power to keep it going. And if that means doing any job associated with the race, then that’s what I’ll do.