HUMAN

Name: Leo B. Rasmussen

Age: 82

Residence: Nome, Alaska for 50 years – now Fairbanks, Alaska since 2016

Occupation: Retired from Music Mart in Nome & Nome, Mayor

Years involved with the Iditarod: 45 + years

Iditarod Role: General Volunteer, Official Nome Checker

Current Location: Fairbanks, Alaska

Date of Photo: October 7, 2022

Temperature: 68F Indoors

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

I got involved with Iditarod when that doggone guy, Howard Farley, who was working at the meat market at Alaska Commercial Company, walked in the door and he handed me this letter that Joe Redington had written to him about doing this fantastic event of running on this old historic trail, which wasn’t really established until long after we ran it. That was my kiss of death. 45 years and still talking about it today…. 

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

I was involved with Iditarod for 45 years. It was a fantastic way of approaching and selling dog mushing and Nome, Alaska. I had never seen anything that would ever, and still has never, approached it in the overall selling of Nome, Alaska as a final end of the race, as a place to visit, and a place to live in.

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

One of my most memorable Iditarod experiences was, quite honestly, checking in 1,123 completions of Iditarod.

What in life do you know for sure?

What I know for sure in life is life and death, and neither you nor I are there yet.