HUMAN

Name: STEVE LAMBERT
Age: 70
Residence: ANCHORAGE, ALASKA
Occupation: RETIRED ENGINEER
Years involved with Iditarod: 35 YEARS
Iditarod Role: COMMUNICATIONS VOLUNTEER
Current Location: IDITAROD HEADQUARTERS
Date of Photo: SATURDAY JUNE 29, 2024 DURING IDITAROD PICNIC
Temperature: 70F 

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

I got involved in the Iditarod in probably the mid ’90s, because my wife was, she’d been an Off-and-on volunteer for 20 years before that, and she was having a good time, met a lot of good people. And I started in Anchorage doing trails, and trail committee, at the race start parking the trucks, and then it just went from there.

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

I’m still involved with the Iditarod because I really enjoy the people, and I enjoy the organization, and the race, big lover of dogs, but it’s the people, I think, that brings me back. It’s just a great group of folks that do a lot of hard work.

Tell me about your most memorable Iditarod experiences?:

I’ve had many memorable experiences. I was out on the trail a couple of years, and one year in Iditarod, one year in White Mountain.
But the most memorable experience was when I was not even a volunteer, I was at the race when it used to start at Big Lake. We would walk out in the lake about half a mile from the start, and Dick Mackey was starting, and he got out on the trail, and his dogs got all tangled in the ropes. And so had to stop the sled, but nobody could hold the sled. So he said, “Come over here and hold the sled.” So I ran over, held the sled, he got them all untangled. And here comes another dog team. The dog team ran by his team, and Dick Mackey’s team started to take off, and I was just hanging on. Dick ran back, jumped on, the runners, took off. I fell on my butt, slid down this lake. And that was the year that Dick Mackey won his Iditarod. 

What do you know for sure?:

The thing I know in life that for sure is that there’s always something good in everybody, and there’s lots of good people in Iditarod, and they’ve all got great experiences and good stories.