Veteran Iditarod musher Deke Naaktgeboren of Fairbanks, Alaska, has been awarded the Iditarod 2023 Leonhard Seppala Humanitarian Award, designated to a musher whose team demonstrates outstanding care of their race team while remaining competitive.
The winner is determined by a combination of voting by trail veterinarians and independent scoring of the teams by three veterinarians in Nome. Each volunteer trail veterinarian is asked to submit their first, second and third choices, with specific point values assigned for each choice based on the musher’s care at checkpoints. For scoring, each sled dog within teams placing in the top 20 is then individually evaluated in Nome by the three independent veterinarians, who assess dogs for hydration, attitude, bodyweight and gait. The winning musher is chosen based on the combination of voting points from the trail veterinarians and the team scores established by the three veterinarians in Nome.
Legendary musher Leonhard Seppala’s care for his dogs is considered the gold standard and was the key to his team’s success in the historic 1925 serum run to Nome.
The Iditarod is continuously improving its dog care standards. The organization performs pre-race chip insertions, veterinary exams, echocardiograms and a complete blood count chemistry panel for each dog athlete – about 4,800 individual veterinary procedures in total. This year, 55 volunteer veterinarians were flown from all over to man every checkpoint along the Iditarod trail.
