HUMAN

Name: Shawn Sidelinger

Age: 58
Residence: Willow Alaska

Occupation: Teacher

First Year Ran Iditarod: 1997

How Many Years Involved With Iditarod: Since 1995

Iditarod Role: Musher, Volunteer & Trained Dog Handlers prior to start

Current Location: Palmer, Alaska

Date of Photo: April 10, 2026
Temperature: 64F indoors

Question 1: What is it about running sled dogs that you love so much?

So what I love about running sled dogs is the power behind them, the speed behind them. I’m till surprised when I get behind even my little retired 3 dog team, how quickly they get me down the trail, much more than I can do on my own 2 feet in snowshoe. So running bigger teams in my earlier years, 10, 12, 16 dogs… It’s just the incredible power that you feel behind them and you know they could run away from you and pull you off that sled at any moment. And so just the power and speed.

Question 2: What, who or how and when & why did you first get involved running the Iditarod?

 

I got involved running the Iditarod, because growing up back East, probably in my teenage years, I remember seeing it on ABC wide world of sports, and this is when Susan Butcher and Rick Swenson, were dueling it out, and that certainly, that really captured me, and I just kept seeking it out after that. I had the opportunity to to mush dogs in upstate New York where I was teaching and I helped out an Iditarod musher, Spencer, through from back there and I went to my first sled dog race in northern Maine with his team as a handler. And I just loved being part of the scene. The whole scene, you know, whether I’m on my own dog team or just being at a checkpoint and seeing some more experienced and more professional mushers out there is just fascinating to me. And I wanted to be a part of that. And that’s when I decided I, I’ve got to go to Alaska. This is amazing here, but I gotta get myself to Alaska.

 

Question 3:  Tell me about just one of your most memorable Iditarod experiences running the Iditarod.

 

My most memorable experience running in the Iditarod probably came my rookie year where as many experienced, some amazing northern lights were out all night long and so some amazing northern lights. But in 1997 was also the year the Hale-Bopp comet was flying overhead. And so I got the layering of the comet and the northern lights, and I knew how special that scene was. I was able to see it for hours, and for many nights in a row.

On a more humorous note, also my rookie year, I caught my sled on fire. Out in Koyuk I used my drop bag as a trash bag, leaning against my sled. As I start pouring that dry gas into my cooker that was already running, unbeknownst to me as a rookie, that flame goes back up into the bottle, and I toss it into my trash bag, go and do my chores, and someone points out, hey, your sled’s on fire. It was. There was a minor hole in my sled bag and my sleeping bag. But we made it to the finish line anyway.

What in life do you know for sure?:

So what I know for sure in life is being married to a European, a Swiss, is that most Europeans don’t have the taste for peanut butter, maple syrup, or root beer, and I think they’re really missing out.