HUMAN

Name: Carla Kelly

Residence: Willow, Alaska

Age: 66

Occupation: I am a pediatric physical therapist, have been for 30 years.

Years involved with Iditarod: Since 1994.

Past Iditarod Roles: I changed my work schedule at that point so that I could have a day midweek to train dogs and then train dogs on the weekend. I did that for about 10 years. And after that, I started getting serious about training and kind of setting my sights on running Iditarod. I started saving money and I trained as much as I could. And then, I found someone that was willing to lease their team for a year so I got involved with their team. Diana Moroney was who I leased a team from. She had run Iditarod about 10 times. She had done Yukon Quest. And then when she finished the Yukon Quest, she wasn’t going to run Iditarod the next year, so she was looking for somebody that might be interested in running. I leased her team.

Current Location: Settler’s Bay Lodge in Wasilla, Alaska
Date of Photo: March 1, 2022

Temperature: 68 F Indoors

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

I first got involved with Iditarod I would say the mid nineties, and that’s when I started doing some volunteering. And then, I started running and training dogs, as I said before. And then, I decided that I wanted to run in 2004, but then I had the opportunity to lease a team in 2003, and so decided to do that instead.

What was one of your most memorable Iditarod experiences?

One of my most memorable Iditarod experiences was when I was going through the Solomon blow-hole along the coast and got into a ground blizzard where it was really hard to see the markers. I was looking for markers and looking for the tripods. I got through that, and then I got into the hills after that, and I ended up doing what’s called a good old barrel roll down the mountain. I managed to hold onto my sled. And once I was able to stop the sled and get the dogs lying down again, I was able to finish. But, I had a bit of a knee injury. I tore out my PCL, which is in the knee. It’s not something that requires surgery, but it was a little bit sore by the time I got in, but I was able to finish. I was grateful for that.

What does the 50th running of the Iditarod mean to you?

Knowing this is the 50th Iditarod race makes me feel confident that there’ll be many more because it really has been difficult to put together a race like this for 50 years in a row. It’s pretty amazing. I feel just hopeful that they’ll be able to continue.

What do you know for sure?:

What I know for sure in life is that nothing is for certain. That’s really, really what I know.