HUMAN
Name: Andre Van Der Merwe
Age: 55
Residence: Malone, New York
Occupation: Construction
Iditarod Roles: Volunteer/Handler
Years involved with the Iditarod: 1
Current Location: McGrath, Alaska
Date of Photo: March 11, 2022
Temperature: 10F Outdoors
What, who or how and when did you first get involved with the Iditarod?
I got involved with the Iditarod… My journey probably started 30 years ago when I got a pet Siberian husky, and then a second and then a third and before I knew it, my wife and myself had 30 dogs and we wanted to do right by them, exercise them, built carts with wheels, random down dirt roads in winter and this is all back in South Africa where there’s not a drop of snow. One thing led to another and 20 years later, we found ourselves immigrating to the states to come and find snow for our dogs. Brought eight of our dogs with us. We’re employed at a sled dog kennel in Northern New York and when we did this, two of our best friends from Cape town did pretty much exactly the same thing. They ended up in Michigan, spent 10 years here, all of us got our green cards and then Gerhardt took the next step, came up to Alaska, trained with the CV Kennel and is now running the Iditarod and I am here in support of him. So in a nutshell, that’s how I became involved with the Iditarod. I became involved with the Iditarod because you cannot be involved in sled dogs in any way, shape or fashion and not know and want to be involved with the Iditarod. It is the pinnacle of the sport. It’s just out there. It’s just… I’ve never even considered the why, because it’s just one of those things that you work towards. So having had sled dogs for 30 years and sitting in South Africa, we watched all the DVDs, all the videos we followed the race every year and then we made the move to the states and we were a little bit closer to it and you started surrounding yourself with friends that were some mushers and consistently you have discussions and you look at the strategies every year and now I actually find myself at a checkpoint, and man, it’s fantastic.
Tell me about just one of your most memorable Iditarod experiences.
One of my most memorable Iditarod experiences was, and this is difficult to point down, I’m going to say that experience has been the last 10 days, the last week. Being up here, supporting my buddy at the ceremonial start, at the official start, at the checkpoint, watching him come in, watching him take off, a guy that I’ve known for 20 years, that we basically grew up in dogs together in South Africa and watching him actually hook this through, I cannot be prouder of another human being on the face of the planet and man, it’s just absolutely brilliant to be part of his life.
What in life do you know for sure?
What I know for sure in life is there’s a lot of talk about death and taxes, but I think those two can take a backseat to the fact that a dog’s unconditional love, there is just nothing on the face of the planet like it. You own a dog, you treat it right, man, that dog will go to bat for you every single time. It’ll lay its life down for you and the more you have, and the more you work with them, the more that shines through and the relationship that is built. So, the one thing that I know for sure in love in life is the love of a dog.