Meet the T200 Mushers

Nicolas Petit

Nicolas Petit, 35, says his passion for dogs and sledding started while he was in diapers. He credits his first canine companion with teaching him to walk and jump–starting his love of dogs and ultimately dog mushing. Nick was born in France and grew up in Normandy, till the age of 12, when his mother remarried and moved him and his sister to New Mexico. Nick moved to Alaska in 2000, and adopted his first Husky shortly thereafter. During a visit to Wyoming, he went on his first dogsled trip and immediately got “hooked”. For this he thanks Iditarod veteran Billy Snodgrass for putting him on the runners. Ten years after adopting that beautiful Alaskan husky, he named Ugly, working construction, and dabbling with sled dog tour scene, he decided to pursue competitive dog mushing.

In fall 2010, Petit connected with 15-time Iditarod finisher Jim Lanier. Petit’s plan was to volunteer for Lanier, and possibly complete Iditarod qualifying races. However, Lanier’s hip needed replacing, so he asked Petit to run his team for 2011. Petit took on the challenge of qualifying, training and raising funds all in the same year as his rookie Iditarod. Petit not only met the challenge, he exceeded it by finishing in 28th place, first among 13 rookies, garnering him the 2011 Jerry Austin Rookie of the Year Award. Nicolas is running dogs from Raymie Redington’s kennel along with a few of his own. Petit lists his hobby as “snow.”

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Emily Thiem

Emily resides in clam gulch. her hobbies include hauling water and chopping wood. in the morning she can butcher a moose & by the evening she is ready to play the trompet in the local orchestra. Emily’s 2017 T200 team is featured on the official 2018 T200 race poster!

Dennis Kananowicz

Dennis was born in Illinois and came to Alaska in 1997 to “get rich” in the fishing business. He began mushing in 1998 and decided at that time to start training for the Iditarod. He had very little knowledge about working with sled dogs and training for long distance races when he first began working with sled dogs, in Anchor Point.  He moved to Fairbanks and worked as a handler for Dan MacEachen and the following season he handled for Charlie Boulding “I learned more than I could have ever hoped to about training and caring for long distance sled dogs”.

Emily Maxwell

Emily Maxwell, was born and raised in Iowa. She grew up in Iowa City where she earned degrees in Spanish, Journalism, and Literary Translation at the University of Iowa and worked as a Pilates instructor and bartender. She has seen her fair share of adventure, including running with bulls, skydiving, working as a long-haul trucker and racing in triathlons. After recovering from a severe burn injury sustained in 2013, she traveled to Alaska, seeking the therapy that nature and its wide open spaces have to offer. While traveling she met Iditarod veteran Nicolas Petit and soon after, she moved to Alaska to begin her mushing life with him. She worked as a dropped dog volunteer in 2016 and 2017, gaining valuable experience working with dogs and other volunteers on the trail. She is honored to run her rookie Iditarod alongside many Alaska friends and Iditarod veterans.

Lance Mackey

Lance Mackey, was born and raised in Alaska. He says he’s been racing since before birth, from sprint to distance. He is a four-time back to back Iditarod champion, and a four-time Yukon Quest champion. He’s also run the Kusko 300, the Kobuk 440, the Wyoming Stage Stop Race, the Fur Rondy, the All Alaska Sweepstakes and lots of other races. Lance says, “I am too young to retire. I’m not passionate about any other sport. I grew up in this sport. Iditarod is in my genetics. I think the team I have now is better than any of my prior teams. All are now four, and even though I’m beat up, my team needs me to show the world and my competition – THEY ARE THE BEST! So I’m back to finish what should have happened last year, #5!” He says he is still in the “school of hard knocks.” Lance’s hobby is asphalt and dirt car racing. He is the father of Alanah, Amanda and Brittney, and Atigun.

David Turner

Dave is from Oregon currently living in Fairbanks, we is a software engineer designing veterinary programs but spends many free hours with his dogs, training them for both races and recreation. Usually a short-distance speed racer, Turner is learning patience and endurance for the mid-distance races.  He’s known not only for speed on the trail, but also a well-maintained and trained team of dogs.  He came in 3^rd in the 2017 T200.

Crispin Studer

Pika Kennels

Crispin lives in the Yukon Territory but is from Erlach. Switzerland

He is a prospector and started working with dogs in 2001 in the Yukon as a Dog Handler.

Crispin’s race experience includes the Yukon Quest, Percy DeWorlf, Kobuk 440.

He says he loves training and running dogs!

Leaders are Uno, a 35-pound energy bundle that only wants to run fast and Rake, a very focused but sometimes a bit grumpy female.

Martine Le Levier

Martine is a Yukon musher, she has been to the Tustumena 200 twice as a handler and says it’s a real pleasure to come back as a musher to see this wonderful landscape again.

Andy Pohl

Sponsors

Kristy Berington

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Anna Berington

Anna is happy to be coming back to the T200. Racing for Seeing Double Sled Dog Racing. Anna and her twin sister Kristy, who now reside in Knik, started raising and training dogs in Kasilof, so it always feels like coming home. Anna loves dogs and getting out to explore. Her team includes some T200 veterans like Rooster and Hale also some eager pups like Colt and Ruby. She’d like to thank Polar Asset Management, Northern Edge Physical therapy, GAB Corona, AK Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, Halliburton, Dunkirk, ECR international, 10th & M Seafoods, Boiler Mag, Janssen Funeral Homes, Seafur Sewing, Kat Berington and friends and family.

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Monica Zappa

Monica Zappa was born and raised in northern Wisconsin where her family lived off the land and off the grid. She was born into a mushing family. Her mom and dad, Dan and Della Zappa participated in, and officiated, the John Beargrease Sleddog Marathon in Duluth, MN. After her dad’s sudden passing from a plane crash, she took a break from mushing to pursue academics. She holds a B.S. in Meteorology and an M.S. in Geography from Northern Illinois University. She also completed one year of a Ph.D. program at the University of Oklahoma where she also worked at the National Weather Center. In 2010 she left flat Oklahoma for the mountains of Alaska, and for dogs.

Soon after arriving in Kasilof she met veteran musher Tim Osmar and has been breeding, raising, training and racing dogs with him ever since. In the summertime Tim and Monica fish a commercial set-net site and operate summer dog kart tours. In the winter they take the dogs (and anyone else who dares to join) out for ultimate Alaskan adventures in the backcountry of the Kenai Peninsula. Since Monica hit the racing circuit three years ago, she is dedicated to using her publicity to help save Alaska’s wild salmon. She is an activist against the proposed Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay and opposes any similar, large-scale mining operations that could pollute Alaska’s precious waterways. Monica says her hobbies are “1) dogs, 2) mushing and 3 )finding ways to fund 1 & 2.”

Tim Osmar

Tim Osmar is the owner and operator of Osmar Racing and Tours. Tim was born and raised on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska, and has spent the last 22 years living in the Caribou Hills. He’s been a commercial fisherman and dog musher his entire adult life. He began mushing in 1979 when he was 12 years old. He ran the Jr. Iditarod four times and won it three times. Osmar has also competed in over 90 other races including winning the 2001 Yukon Quest, completing The Iditarod 23 times, and leading Rachel Scdoris, a legally blind musher, twice in The Iditarod.

Robert Redington

WHOA Mushing

Robert, son of Raymie Redington, grandson of Joe Redington Sr. grew up in Knik, AK. Now trains and run an Iditarod Racing Team with girlfriend Jae March in Willow, AK. In the summer Robert gives sled dog rides to people from around the world at Alaska X Sled Dog Discovery & Musher’s Camp.

In the summer of 2017 Robert got the chance to show off his dogs and give a ride to Jack & Ozzy Osbourne. Robert would like to thank his Sponsors and all of his support to make the 2017-2018 racing season possible.

Robert says “The feeling I get from dog mushing is like having butterflies in the stomach. It’s hard to explain”

His main sponsors are Barb and Raymie Redington, Big Dan’s and Alaska Excursions

Bradley Farquhar

Bradley was born and raised in Nova Scotia. He was introduced to dog mushing at the age of 8 while watching Iron Will at his grandmother’s house. “Seeing the young boy overcome the challenges of mushing and winning the big race, I knew I needed to try it”.  He came to Alaska 2 years ago and ran dogs with Sebastian Schnuelle.  His favorite thing about dog mushing is how hard of a sport it is.  He’s swum the English Channel, ran 150 miles across the Sahara Desert, and climbed Denali.  All of them have very hard aspects however dog sledding seems to take pieces of all of these challenges to make the hardest of all.  Bradley says he feels super fortunate to have the support and ability to race alongside some of the best mushers in the world.

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Chris Snoyer

Chris was born and raised in Nova Scotia, Canada is currently the CEO at spiffy. This is Chris’s first dog sled race and his first time on a sled. Bradley promised him an adventure if he comes up and an adventure he is getting. It’s a good thing Chris is a quick learner! Chris currently lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Travis Beals

Travis grew up on the Kenai Peninsula in the town of Seward. Travis is excited to be competing in his 3rd Tustumena 200 as he has been involved with the race since his junior mushing days. The caribou hills have always been one of his most favorite places to mush and he is excited to be returning to his routes. The T200 is the first race for Travis this season and he’s looking forward to sharing the trails with some of his favorite Kenai Peninsula mushers.  He sends a huge thank you to all those who have helped put on the 2018 race. During the summer, Travis operates dog sled tours out of Seward with his businesses Seward Helicopter Tours and Turning Heads Kennel.

Sarah Stokey

Sarah Stokey moved to Alaska in 2010 to pursue her dream of running sled dogs. She competed in the 2012 Tustumena 200 as her first Iditarod qualifier and ran the Iditarod in 2016. Sarah spends her summers in Seward, Alaska where she and her partner Travis run Seward Helicopter Tours and Turning Heads Kennel. Sarah is excited to be returning to the 2018 Tustumena 200 and is grateful for all the support she’s received from friends and family. She gives a big “Thank you” to all the hard-working volunteers who are working to put on the Tustumena 200.

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