Linwood Fiedler, Willow, Alaska Linwood Fiedler was born in Vermont in 1953. He came to Alaska from Montana in 1990, "with a banjo on my knee." He has been employed with Life Quest as a child therapist for the last five years. Linwood won the Montana’s 500 mile Governor’s Cup twice and has placed in the top four in the Minnesota John Beargrease three times. He has completed seven Iditarod races. Linwood says he’s worked hard at developing a competitive kennel and thinks his dogs are some of the best. "I’m looking forward to showing them off in this year’s race. My goal is to stay positive and focused no matter what comes our way." Linwood is married. He and Kathy have two children, Christi and Dalton.

Keizo Funatsu, Osaka, Japan/Two Rivers, Alaska Keizo Funatsu was born in Japan in 1956. He says when he was young, he bicycled all over Japan. He has also crossed the United States and the Sahara Desert by bicycle. After his African trip, Keizo decided he’d like to travel in snowy country. That meant putting away the bicycle in favor of a dog team. He began mushing in 1985. He traveled through Greenland and then Antarctica with the Will Steger expedition. His first trip to Alaska was in 1986 when he came with Iditarod musher Dave Olesen from Minnesota. "I was impressed with seeing the dogs and men work together," said Keizo. He said that after seeing the ‘86 start, he knew he wanted to run the Iditarod. He came back to Alaska in the fall of 1992 to prepare for the ‘93 Iditarod. He has since established his own kennel in Two Rivers. He withdrew at Safety in 1995 and looks forward to going all the way to Nome in ‘96. Keizo is married.