Ross I Adam, Grande Prairie, Alberta Ross I Adam, 43, was born in Alberta where he is today a buffalo rancher. In 1993, he spent some time in Alaska working as a logger. He began mushing in 1994 after seeing a dog race in Northway and watching an Iditarod video. He finished the Yukon Quest in 1995 and will run his first Iditarod in 1996. He is running dogs from Susan Butcher’s lines. Ross says he’s always enjoyed animals. He’s raised and trained horses and has packed with horses. He expects the Iditarod to be an "exciting challenge." Ross is married. They have no children. He says his hobbies are skiing and horse polo.

Steve Adkins, Trapper Creek, Alaska Born in Kansas on April 6, 1954, Steve Adkins came to Alaska with his parents in May of 1960 to homestead in the Kenai area. He began mushing soon after and the love of being with the dogs in the Alaska wilderness remained through his childhood and into adulthood. Steve finished 33rd in 1979, his first Iditarod. "In 1987, I had fully decided to give up dog mushing after placing 15th with an almost all, in heat, female team that nearly drove me nuts!" He sold the whole team and moved to Anchorage to work. After a few years of city life, Steve moved back to the Goose Creek area and started breeding dogs and training pups. About this same time, he married Sarah and together they are raising and training dogs, farming and raising his two step sons, Tim and Duane.

Jerry Austin, St. Michael, Alaska Forty-eight year old Jerry Austin has been participating in the Iditarod since 1976. He was born in Washington and following graduation from the University of Washington, he headed for Alaska to seek adventure. For the last 25 years, he’s lived in St. Michael where he has managed a barge line and fuel company. Jerry is also a commercial fisherman and a registered big game guide. He began mushing in 1973 after getting to know Carl & Sidney Huntington, Dick Mackey, Emmitt Peters, Charlie Fitka and Edgar Kalland. He has raced a total of 17 Iditarods and many other mid distance races in Alaska. Jerry says his hobby is his family. Jerry and Clara are the parents of four children, Dena, 18, Jerrine, 17, Charlene, 15, and Tony, 8. The older children are at UAF and Jerry says the youngest is at home learning subsistence hunting, fishing and gathering. Jerry credits "good friends and sponsors that keep us racing again in ‘96."