HUMAN

Name: John and Helen Schultz.

Age: John, 71 and Helen, 69

Residence: Spring Green, Wisconsin

Occupation: John, retired carpenter and Helen, retired vet tech.

Years involved with the Iditarod: Since 2009

Iditarod Role: Helen, volunteered as a veterinary technician pre-race and John, helped checking the shoots with the microchips.

Current Location: Nome, Alaska

Date of Photo: March 15, 2022

Temperature: 1F Outdoors & 68F Indoors at Iditarod Headquarters

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

Helen Schultz:
So when we first became involved with Iditarod, we were vacationing in 2008, visited Martin Buser’s kennel, and asked him about volunteering as a vet tech. And he gave us the names of who and how to contact the vet tech people.

John Schultz:
Yes, since my wife came up here to be a volunteer for the pre-check of the dogs, we’ve raised malamutes for 45 years. So I wanted to come up and help as much as possible with her.

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

John Schultz:
We’re here today, involved with the Iditarod because we’ve raised Alaskan Malamutes since 1970 and ran a sled dog team since 1976, ran bigger teams in the 1980s and 1990s, now just hobby sledding.

Helen Schultz:
Because the Iditarod is the Olympics of dog sledding. That’s why we got involved.

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

Helen Schultz:
I guess my most memorable experience was handling the dogs during the pre-race checkups and just seeing how fit and pleasant the dogs were as well as the mushers.

John Schultz:
I guess my most memorable one would be actually seeing the finish here at Nome, never been able to do this before.

What in life do you know for sure?

John Schultz:
I know for sure now that these athletes are the best athletes in the world, bar none. 

Helen Schultz:
What I know for sure in life is that you should never stop learning.