Susan Butcher

Born this day in 1954: Susan Butcher (1954–2006), sled-dog racing champion

Susan Butcher, a native of Boston, Massachusetts, began training dogs at age 16. In 1975 she moved to Alaska and established her own kennel.

For more than a decade she dominated the sport of sled-dog racing, a physically grueling sport typically dominated by men. She is the only racer to win three consecutive Iditarods (1986, 1987, 1988). The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog race is the sports longest and most difficult sled-dog race, ranging 1,152 miles through the Alaska wilderness. Butcher won the race a fourth time in 1990. She finished in the top five in 12 out of 17 Iditarod. She also once drove a team of huskies to the top of Moot McKinley (a.k.a. Mount Denali), the highest peak in North America.

Her achievements in the sport extend beyond the racing trails. She is lauded for revolutionizing the way sled-dogs are raised, trained, and treated.

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