HUMAN

Name: Robert Nicholas

Age: 63

Residence: Kaltag, Alaska 99748

Occupation:  I’m a PPO plant operator and also got Plant Operator of the Year. I also work for the airlines.

Years involved with Iditarod: Since the ’80’s

Iditarod role: Hauling the straw, dog food, wood, cleaning up, hauling hay; pretty much everything they ask me. 

Current Location: Kaltag, Alaska

Date of Photo: March 15, 2020
Temperature: 30F/Outdoors

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

I got involved what the Iditarod with Joe May, Libby Riddles, Joe Garnie, Victor Kotongan, all these guys. I watched them race, Rudy Demoski, Warner Vent, and Joe Redington and the Anderson boys from McGrath; alot of people, but I can’t remember them all right now. But it was pretty interesting in the early days. All these mushers used to stay at people’s homes, so that’s how I got involved with the Iditarod. They asked me to help with the mushers staying at our house, so I had two champions stay at my house, Joe May and Libby Riddles.

What is your Why?..Why are you here today and involved in Iditarod?

I’m here today involved with the Iditarod, because I used to run dogs and I still love dogs, but I can’t run the dogs. I had ear surgeries, so I got sick from … I used to run snowshoes. In 1975, I ran the Serum Run from Kaltag to Old Woman, and I was 17 years old. I was a young man then. So subtract the years, and you’ll get the exact year that I did it, 1975. So with that, I been involved with pretty much with the Iditarod from the very start when Richard Burnham and Philip Tucker Simekin (sic). We were all helping one another in some sort of way.

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

The race is exciting, and we enjoy the race here in Kaltag. We love the sport, and we love the dogs, and we love the people that come here. It’s quite an experience to meet different people. Our village is remote, so we don’t get a chance to meet a lot of people. When we do meet people, we make friends with them, and it’s a memorable experience for us. With that, I just say thank you to all involved with Mark Nordman, with Iditarod. There’s a lot of people. I can’t think of all their names. It was quite an experience for us here in Kaltag.

What do you know for sure?:

For sure I know in life is that tomorrow is not promised to anybody. I know everything is uncertain. Well, way back when the Serum Run first started, the epidemic, it killed a lot of people. Now, today I know for sure coronavirus, we know nothing about it. But it’s going to be here. It’s another epidemic that came true like 1925, like the swine flu, the Serum Run epidemic. Now today, it’s the coronavirus. We’re really uncertain with the future, but it’s what it is, and nobody’s guaranteed the life other than today. Tomorrow is not promised to anyone. With that I just say thank you, and I wish you all the good luck for the future.