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LYNDA PLETTNER
Greetings from beautiful Alaska!!! My name is Lynda Plettner and I am a
professional dog musher and dog breeder. I have finished the Iditarod six times. The Iditarod is a 1,100
mile sled dog race from Anchorage to Nome. I just completed my sixth race
on March 19th. It took me 11 days, 23 hours and 53 minutes. I was the second
woman to cross the finish line and finished in 33rd position in a field
of 68 mushers. I was born in New York City and moved to Palm Springs before
finally moving to Alaska in 1980. I have always liked the outdoors and Alaska
is the "last frontier". Prior to moving to Alaska I worked as a carpenter
and trained horses. I have two adult sons, who live in the lower 48, and
have four grandchildren.
I have always loved animals and when I moved to Alaska, I was able to transfer my horse training skills to sled dogs. I now live in Big Lake, about 50 miles from Anchorage. Prior to moving to Big Lake, I lived in Barrow and gained a lot of knowledge about training dogs in extremely cold temperatures. I currently own and operate Plettner Kennels, a comprehensive sled dog facility, that includes dog boarding, sled dog rides, and a "learn to mush" program. I also lease and train dog teams for other mushers, both professional and recreational. I operate a small feed store that carries all types of dog food, meats, vitamin, food supplements and mushing equipment. My husband, Dan "Guido" Govoni helps with the kennel but his real love is Guido's Gangline and Sleds. He makes all of my sleds and racing equipment and sells to other mushers. My dogs are special, not just because they are mine but because of their background. In the early 1980's, I teamed by with the late Joel Kotke to work towards creating a comprehensive and competitive kennel of Arctic wolf/sled dogs. Joel first ran wolf/dogs when he competed in the 1974 Iditarod. My 1998 team was composed of that same line of dogs. The "1998 A Team" was a group of sixteen dogs that were energetic, focused, well conditioned and performed like a wonderful piece of machinery. Joel would have been proud of his dogs. I dedicated the race to him and his love of animals. In Feburary 1998, I was featured on PBS Mathline: Career Connections. In the feature, I hope that I was able to let young people know how important school is today and will be in the future. I can not count the number of times I have had to use my basic skills in my everyday life, especially mathematics and health sciences. During the recent Iditarod, I had a film crew with me for many hundreds of miles. They were shooting footage for a future documentary on sled dogs and racing. I hope that it will encourage other young people, especially young ladies, to become involved with animals as a career. Archive of Virtual Take
Our Daughters to Work Day chat on April 23, 1998.
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