HUMAN
Name: Mabel & Steven Flodin
Residence: Chugiak, Alaska
Age: (Both) 73
Occupation: (Both) I’m retired
Years involved with Iditarod: Mabel: Over 30 years. Steve: I’ve been involved with Iditarod and Junior Iditarod for over 30, 35 years.
Past Iditarod Roles: Mabel: I first got involved with the Iditarod, I think when my husband, Steve, ran the first race in ’81. And then it wasn’t only a few years later and I started being a timer, and I can’t remember how else I volunteered, but whenever I was asked, I always did something. Steve: I’ve been Iditarod musher times. I’ve been on a board of directors for Iditarod. And in Junior Iditarod, I was a president for a number of years.
Current Location: Settler’s Bay Lodge in Wasilla, Alaska
Date of Photo: March 1, 2022
Temperature: 68 F Indoors
What, who or how and when did you first get involved with the Iditarod?
Mabel Flodin:
All right, I first got involved with the Iditarod, I think when my husband, Steve, ran the first race in ’81. And then it wasn’t only a few years later and I started being a timer, and I can’t remember how else I volunteered, but whenever I was asked, I always did something.
Steven Flodin:
I first got involved about 1980 in helping some other folks train their dogs 1979, I think it was and I wanted to do the Iditarod myself. So 1981, I ran my first Iditarod. And then I ran it again in ’82, and then I ran it again in ’85 and I really fell in love with the racing experience out on the trail.
What was one of your most memorable Iditarod experiences?
Mabel Flodin: Okay, one of my most memorial Iditarod experiences, I think, would be in 1985. Steve ran the race, but I was Nome when Libby was the first woman to win the Iditarod and that was very exciting for me.
Steve Flodin:
One of my most memorable Iditarod experiences, I’ve had many of them that I really reflect back on and really like, but one of them that I really stuck with me was, one night we’re running from Shaktoolik to Koyuk on the ice and the Northern lights were out and it was just amazingly quiet night. And I stopped my dogs out there, and people tell you that you can’t hear the Northern lights, but I begged to differ with them, because they were crinkly. I could hear them crinkling in the sky. It was the most memorable experience I’ve ever had.
What does the 50th running of the Iditarod mean to you?
Mabel Flodin:
Knowing that this is the 50th Iditarod, it makes me feel a little bit old, I guess, because I’ve witnessed most of them and really enjoyed it.
Steven Flodin:
Knowing this is the 50th Iditarod makes me feel old also, because I ran in two of my Iditarod when the first 10 Iditarod. But I’m just happy to see that Iditarod continuing on. I was afraid in some of the years when we were short of funds that Iditarod might not make it, but I’m really happy to see that we’re still around.
What do you know for sure?:
Mabel Flodin:
I know for sure, life it’s full of surprises, but you always have to put on a happy face and make the best effort for whatever’s happening.
Steven Flodin:
What I know for sure in life is that, it throws a lot of curves at you, and Iditarod, I think, helped prepare you in facing those challenges and getting through them, and helps you later on in life and gives you confidence that you can do things that you don’t think you can do.