HUMAN

Name: Bailey Vitello
Age: 27
Residence: Home base in Nenana, AK and Milan, New Hampshire
Occupation: Entrepreneur. I own Lead Dog Landscaping
Years involved with Iditarod: at least 13
Iditarod Role: Musher
Current Location: Downtown Anchorage Ceremonial Start, Anchorage, Alaska

Date of Photo: March 1, 2025
Temperature: 30F outside

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

I got involved with Iditarod because I wanted to have a journey. I wanted to have something that challenged me and have the experience of a lifetime. I’ve always wanted to do this since I was a little kid. I ran Junior Iditarod when I was 14 in 2012, and I was hooked. After, I was just trying to find how I would make the Iditarod happen. And now we’re here on our third Iditarod, and we have an unbelievable support network, and we’re super excited for this year, and we’re just getting geared up, and we’re ready.

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

I’m involved with Iditarod because it really signifies the mushing spirit. It started around the premise of keeping the sport alive, and I believe that’s true to this day. And we love dogs. Anyone out here on this trail loves their animals and is just working as a family, and it’s an unbelievable feat to travel a thousand miles with a dog team, let alone do it and so positively. And coming to the finish line with an unbelievable group of dogs, anyone getting to under that burl is a winner of my books.
Tell me about your most memorable Iditarod experiences?:

One of the most memorable Iditarod experiences was getting to the top of the Blueberry Hills and looking up the coastline and almost being able to see Nome and how far we’ve come. And looking back and seeing the adventure we’ve already had and knowing we get to keep going is just an unbelievable feeling.
Again, it gets little daunting looking down at Shak, and we already look down there and see a ground storm brewing. You’re like, “Okay, it’s going to be a little windy and cold, but that’s okay.” And we go through it and we travel together, and I always take an extra minute there and steal an extra snack and spend some time up there. And the view is unbelievable. It’s one of those views that you can’t describe to people without saying, “You need to go there.”

What do you know for sure?:

What I know for sure in life is that I have an unbelievable family and support group that is always behind me and supporting me no matter what. And this crazy adventure we call Iditarod and running dogs, having a 75 dog kennel, and growing the scale we did and having an unbelievable sport with my fiancee, Rihanna, and my handler, Hayden, and my parents, and Aaron Burmeister who’s my mentor and coach. It takes a family, and they grow so fast, and we’ve been very blessed with an unbelievable group of people behind us, all the fans and all the people behind us. And it’s hard not to get infectious about how excited everyone is, the energy you feel. And we love it, and we won’t change a day about it and I’m going to keep doing it as long as I can.