North Dakota man competing in 9th Iditarod

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – Every year courageous mushers battle Alaska’s climate to compete within the annual Iditarod Sled Canine Race between Anchorage and Nome, Alaska. This 12 months a local North Dakotan is on the point of compete in his ninth Iditarod.

These are a few of the views Kelly Maixner will get to see whereas he trains every day and being from North Dakota, it’s not one thing he thought he would ever do.

“No, rising up in North Dakota I by no means imagined that I’d even step foot within the state of Alaska, so it’s not one thing that was on my radar in any respect rising up,” stated Maixner.

Maixner is initially from Seashore and moved to Alaska in 2007 and knew racing canines have been for him.

“Ever since I moved to Alaska, I’ve all the time liked mushing and canines. I wished to do it immediately. Iditarod is only a distinctive expertise,” stated Maixner.

In the course of the race, he’ll use 14 sled canines, which were bred and educated to compete. The bloodline of the canines goes again to village canines 1000’s of years in the past, and alongside his journey, he will get to see a lot of the villages.

“The native villages are actually cool. and the native folks out within the villages are so welcoming they usually simply love having us on the market. It’s a part of their custom and once we come by means of, they deal with us so effectively. And it’s simply, it’s a cool, cool factor to be on the market as a result of they’re very remoted folks,” stated Maixner.

His first race was in 2011, and earlier than the race begins, he and his canines put in 3,000-4,000 miles.

“The toughest half is the psychological a part of it, and bodily it’s onerous too. I most likely in the course of the race run 15-20 miles a day,” stated Maixner.

As for the canines, he describes it as them all the time attending to play a sport of fetch, however ensuring they don’t over-exhaust themselves. Maixner had his greatest race in 2015 when he positioned thirteenth. The annual race will begin on March 4 for its 51st anniversary.

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