Bessemer woman making mark as Alaska dog musher 

By TOM LAVENTURE

tlaventure@yourdailyglobe.com

BRUSHKANA, Alaska - A former Bessemer resident who wanted to take a year off before starting a career in nursing is now making her mark in the world of Alaska dog sled racing.

Julie Ahnen has spent the past three years working for dog handlers and is now competing in major races. Her finish times have surprised herself as much as others for racing younger dogs against some of the best mushers in the world.

"This is definitely the biggest year in racing that I've ever done," Ahnen said. "I did a couple of 60 mile races, a 200 mile race a couple of years ago in Two Rivers, north of Fairbanks, but the Copper Basin 300 is the longest and most prestigious race that I have ever run."

How Ahnen got to be a dog musher is just as amazing as her success in the sport. Most young people don't want to gamble the time or money to find out if they want to spend a life training and racing dog teams.

"It's kind of a huge step to own all of your own dogs and your own operation," Ahnen said. 

Most people enter the sport by handling for another musher, she said. It's a great way to gain experience without the responsibilities of ownership.

"I thought I was just going to travel around and land somewhere and start nursing again," Ahnen said. "Now it's been three years and that's not necessarily a plan but it's about following a passion."

Dog sledding wasn't a lifelong dream but Ahnen said her interest in the sport started at Washington Elementary School in Bessemer. Her fifth grade teacher, Bard Almberg, had her students follow the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race from Anchorage to Nome when the event's foundation created an online youth education program.

"That is originally where I got my first interest in sled dogs from," Ahnen said. 

It wasn't a life-changing event, she said. But it brought her Jack London adventure books to life, and it clicked with her competitive streak from sports.

As a young adult, Ahnen enjoyed cross country skiing with her dog, Jackson. The two would ski the wilderness together for hours.

"That was some of the most fun times I've had, just skiing the wilderness with my buddy," she said. "That kind of sparked the interest as well."

After completing the nursing program at Gogebic Community College in 2017, Ahnen said she wanted to backpack the western United States and Canada for six months before starting a career as a registered nurse. She was working as a helping hand on a goat farm in British Columbia, when she heard that mushers were looking for help in the Northwest Territories and soon found herself training sprint dogs at Deh Gah Mushers Club in Fort Providence where she had a chance to participate in a short race.

"That was three years ago," Ahnen said. "I was kind of hooked on it."

With her Canada visa about to expire, Ahnen looked to nearby Alaska as an option to work as a dog handler for Jessie Holmes, who raises distance mushing teams and has had success in long races, including the Iditarod. He is also a subject of the BBC America / National Geographic docu series "Life Below Zero."

"That is how he is able to keep his thing going," Ahnen said. "He has a pretty solid fan base and a few sponsors."

Ahnen, now 24, has spent much of the last year helping Holmes build a cabin and dog kennels in the remote Brushkana River area. She and fellow handlers of "Team Can't Stop" train approximately 40 sled dogs.

"Everything kind of runs around the Iditarod here but then there are all these younger dogs that need to be trained to and that is mostly what I do," Ahnen said.

Holmes will run his fourth Iditarod this March. Ahnen has focused on blending the younger dogs with the experienced Iditarod team.

As part of training the younger dogs, Ahnen entered races that included the Copper Basin 300. She had no expectations running against the best mushers. She didn't push the dogs but they were running as hard as they trained.

"I knew they were very spectacular dogs but I didn't know quite the extent until I saw my times coming into the checkpoints were really fast," Ahnen said. "They were doing so well and I ended up running in second place pretty much that entire race up until the last checkpoint."

Ahnen finished in second place but lost points when it was discovered her differential, a calculation that is included with the mandatory rest periods along the race, was off by 18 minutes. She said the readjustment from the error put her in sixth place and was largely due to her fatigue and inexperience.

"But I am still really proud of the sixth place finish for that team," Ahnen said.

She spent the entire race behind Nicolas Petit, a three-time Copper Basin 300 shampion. Right behind her were Iditarod winner Joar Ulsom, and Yukon Quest champion Matt Hall.

"It was pretty surreal and not even in my wildest dreams to be racing against these champion dog mushers," she said.

In February, Ahnen competed in the Willow 300. She started the race in 23rd place and worked her way to 14th before the finish.

Ahnen just needs to complete the Quest 300 to qualify for the 2022 Iditarod. She will be on the Holmes team but could run her own race as well with the younger dogs to familiarize them with the trail for future races.

"Jessie has taught me a ton about the proper way to train," Ahnen said. "It's not just standing on the runners. There is a lot that goes into it, from nutrition to physiology. The dogs all have their own personalities and part of it is figuring out how to make the best possible combination of dogs."

It also takes a certain amount of grit, she said. It's very early mornings. The trails are grueling at times with hills and creek crossings over open water.

Not everyone is cut out for life in a remote Alaska cabin, she said. The work is challenging but the quiet offers time to reflect on choices and life, she said.

"It takes a little bit of bravery sometimes," she said. "I feel like I've kind of shaved things down to the bare minimum of what you need to survive in the world."

Any new musher will feel like an outsider, she said. She has received a lot of acknowledgements from people who are steeped in mushing which has helped her confidence grow.

Ahnen doesn't earn much as a handler and her remote location doesn't give her the opportunity to work in nursing. To stay fit and supplement her income she spends her summers with the Chugachmiut Yukon 5, a Native wildlife firefighter crew based out of the Kenai Peninsula. They travel to help fight fires around the state and the country.

At 5 feet, 3 inches Ahnen said she doesn't have the typical firefighter build and so she trains that much harder to perform the same work. Firefighting and mushing are similar in that they both involve watching out for hazards and sleep deprivation from working 18 to 20 shifts, she said.

Looking forward, Ahnen said she would like to compete in the Midwest races. The UP 200 out of Marquette, the Houghton Copper Dog 150, and the John Beargrease in Minnesota are all Iditarod qualifiers, she said.

Ahnen will soon build a website and start building her own sponsors. She would like to run the Iditarod completely on her own with her firefighting team logo on her sled.