HUMAN
Name: Jessie Royer
Age: 46
Residence: I drove up from Seeley Lake, Montana, but I’m actually a resident of Alaska.
Occupation: Musher.
Years involved with Iditarod: This is my 20th year racing, but I first came up in 1994 as a handler for Doug Swingley. That was my first experience with the Iditarod. It was 1994.
Iditarod Role: I just run dogs
Current Location: Anchorage, Alaska
Date of Photo: March 2, 2023
Temperature: 23f
What, who or how and when did you first get involved with the Iditarod?
I first became involved with the Iditarod in 1994 as a handler for Doug Swingley. I raced for several years in other races until I decided to run my first Iditarod in 2001, so this will be my 20th year this year. I’ve been a volunteer on the trail as well as a musher.
What is your Why? Why are you here TODAY and involved with the Iditarod?
I am here today and involved with Iditarod because as I was saying, every year I freeze my brain cells. So that’s what I tell everybody, is I’m not smart enough to know better than to come back the next year. But in reality, I guess it’s because I’ve been running dogs for 31 years and I’ve run Iditarod 20 times. I love the dogs. And the dogs, they’re not a job. They’re a lifestyle. They are my family. Everything that I do is involved with the dogs, so what better way to spend time with your best friends then to travel across the great state of Alaska and 1,000 miles to some of the most beautiful country you’ll ever see?It’s a way to kind of get away from the rest of life and reality and all the busyness, and just take time and be with what really matters and what counts, and that’s the dogs. So that’s what I love to do.
Tell me about just one of your most memorable Iditarod experiences:
One of my most memorable Iditarod experiences … There actually isn’t any one thing that I can think of to say, but I can think of countless special dogs on the trail, and dogs that have led me through storms and winds and whiteout conditions. In 20 Iditarods, there’s just too many to really pick out one because I’ve had some pretty special dogs over the years. I’ve had dogs that have finished eight, nine Iditarods with me. And some of them have … I mean, we’ve gone through, I guess you could almost say, life and death situations in storms and whiteouts on the trail. They have always gotten me through. They’ve never let me down. And so I guess the most memorable thing would be my dogs, would be my lead dogs.
What in life do you know for sure?
What I know for sure in life is nothing is for sure. Yeah. I mean, I just kind of take it as it comes. You got to be flexible and just kind of roll with the punches for the most part. I never really had a plan starting Iditarod because in 20 years, I’ve never run two races the same. And so I think that is the most important thing about running Iditarod is you just got to be flexible and be able to read your dogs, and read what they need and adapt as the race goes on because there’s no two years the same. A couple of years ago, it was 56 below, and I was hoping that this year wouldn’t be that cold. Well then I think this year is going to be 30 or 40 above, so that’s the extreme the other way. You just got to be prepared for everything.