HUMAN
Name: Susan Cantor
Age: 66
Residence: Chugiak, Alaska
Occupation: Retired Biologist with Fish and Wildlife Service and then EPA
First Year Ran Iditarod: 1992
Years involved with Iditarod: Off and on since 1992
Iditarod Role: Musher, Volunteer
Current Location: Anchorage, Alaska
Date of Photo: December 27, 2025
Temperature: 68F inside
What is/was your first and continuing motivation to run sled dogs?
I grew up in New Jersey, but I always loved sled dogs and the outdoors. So when I moved to Alaska after college, I discovered that you could combine the two in dog mushing and I was completely hooked. And I’ve been running dogs ever since. I’ve been running recreationally all over the Kuskokwim Delta. I have run through the cornfields in upstate New York. I’ve done sprint races. I’ve supported my kids in junior mushing. We’ve done mid-distance. And I think the epitome of my racing career was the Iditarod in 1992.
What, who or how and when & why did you first get involved running the Iditarod?
In 1990, I was diagnosed with MS. And so I stepped back from dog mushing and my husband took over the team and he decided to run Iditarod. So I helped him from behind the scenes. And then he finished in 1991, and my boss started harassing me and he’d say, “So Susan, when are you going to run the race? When are you going to run the race?” And he wouldn’t let it go. So finally I sat down in his office and I said, “Okay, if you’re serious, this is what I need.” And I gave him a schedule. So I said, “I’ll need two days off in October and three days off in November and so on. ” And he was completely with the program, supported me all the way.
Yeah. And I was worried about the MS, but it turned out it wasn’t a factor at all. I trained hard. I trained myself and I trained my dogs, and I had a very smooth race. The MS simply wasn’t a factor in that, and it hasn’t been for the rest of my life. I truly believe that running the Iditarod changed the course of my disease.
Tell me about just one of your most memorable Iditarod experiences running the Iditarod?:
The defining feature of my race in 1992 was the cold. And it was 50 below zero for at least half of the race. So you had to worry about … Anytime you exposed your fingers, you had to worry about frostbite, but I still managed to take good care of myself and my dogs. I mostly ran by myself, but I was worried about hitting the coast and the notorious storms, so I teamed up with some more experienced mushers.
But by the time we got to Golovin, my dogs were happy and they were stronger than the other teams. So I abandoned my friends and continued on by myself, finished in 37th place. I was seven places ahead of my husband when he ran, and I had a very smooth run. So it was one of the greatest experiences of my life.
What in life do you know for sure?:
So what I know for sure in life is that dogs have made my life a lot better. I don’t know about other people, but they’re very important to my happiness.