Dan Seavey has been mushing ever since he came to Alaska in 1963. His love for history led him to study the old Seward-Iditarod-Nome trail. This interest turned into a passion, and in 1971 Dan began working with Alaskan heroes like Joe Redington, Sr., Tom Johnson, and Gleo Huyck to put on a race across Alaska. After two years of hard work, Dan took to the trail with eleven dogs as one of thirty-six mushers in the very first Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in 1973.
The first race was not easy. The mushers and their teams often had to find and break their own trail. Dan, who lead for much of the race, took third. He was instrumental in getting the first mushers safely to Nome. He helped pave the way for the 602 Iditarod Mushers who have followed in the subsequent 38 years.
Dan went on to compete in the 1974 race, where he placed 5th, and in the twenty-fifth running of the race in 1997, in which he took thirty-sixth. Although he has not frequent the trail since those early years, he has remained an important part of the efforts to maintain and preserve the Iditarod National Historic Trail, and he has passed on his love for dog mushing to two more generations of Seavey’s.
