HUMAN

Name: Lynda Bekoalok

Age: 62

Residence: Shaktoolik, Alaska

Occupation: Retired Teacher

Years involved with the Iditarod: 21

Iditarod Roles: Volunteer/Communications

Current Location: Shaktoolik, Alaska

Date of Photo: March 13, 2022

Temperature: 68F Indoors/ 6F Outdoors & 20-30 MPH winds

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

I first became involved in the Iditarod back in the ’80s, when I lived in Kansas and Texas, and just always loved Alaska and wanted to live here my whole life. Moved here in 2002, and just loved following Susan Butcher in the Iditarod, and the race, tried to watch it on the Outdoor Channel back then, at five o’clock in the morning for the updates.

What is your Why? Why are you here TODAY and involved with the Iditarod?

I am here today and involved in the Iditarod because this is a first year, we officially are volunteers as comms people, and my husband’s the head checker. And we’ve done it in Anchorage before, he’s been a handler and I always attended the teacher’s conference. And so this year we’re official volunteers rather than just voluntary volunteers. 

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

One of my most memorable Iditarod experiences was meeting Jeff Schultz the first year, because without Jeff and his pictures, those of us in other parts of the world would not know about the Iditarod. And so his pictures and his books and things, helped bring us in and make us feel a part of it. And the first year I met him, I took my picture with him, because I said, you’re the hero of the Iditarod to me, because if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t know about the Iditarod much.

What in life do you know for sure?

What I know for sure in life is that relationships are the most important thing. What I know for sure in life is that God always has a plan. It may not be ours. I just heard somebody recently say, from seed to a radish takes seven days or a couple weeks. For a tree, it took like 20 years from seed to a tree, and sometimes our plan’s not God’s plan. So are you planting a radish? Are you waiting for the tree?