Over twenty years ago, along with my parents and twenty Alaskan Huskies, I was traveling across Canada bound for the 30th Annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. We were headed to Anchorage, Alaska where my dad, Stan Passananti, would begin the 1000-mile race. It would be 11 days, 7 hours, 36 minutes, and 42 seconds after leaving the start that he and his sled dog team would cross the finish line in Nome.

Preparing for the Iditarod was a family affair, and I was heavily involved in the training of the dogs, packing of the gear, race strategizing, and supporting the completion of the qualifying races. During the prior year, in the midst of a tough 300-mile race, the team had one difficult run. When at the next checkpoint, my dad considered whether he should scratch (withdraw from the race—something he’d never done before), I remarked, “Quitting is not an option.” That phrase became a motto, not only for Iditarod, but for the many curveballs life has thrown over the past two decades.

Tenacity and perseverance are shared traits of most mushers. In 1925, this never-give-up attitude is what propelled more than 20 mushers and 150 sled dogs in a relay across 675 miles of difficult trail, bringing a life-saving antitoxin to a community in the throes of a diphtheria epidemic. That “Great Race of Mercy” to Nome, Alaska became the inspiration for the modern-day Iditarod.

The same grit continues to fuel mushers and their dogs across a thousand miles of barren wilderness both in the Iditarod and the Yukon Quest. It’s this same form of determination that motivates an ICU nurse, a teacher, a car salesman, a chaplain, a firefighter, a conservation officer, and many others to rise well before dawn to care for and train their sled dogs before they head to work…then to spend their weekend competing here at the
Klondike Dog Derby.

In similar form, this spirit is what drove the Klondike team to bring to life our inaugural race in 2020. And it’s what has led us through a total of four years of hard work and planning, from the first flicker of my dream to run a sled dog race around Lake Minnetonka, to this day, as we stand on the brink of realizing our second Klondike Dog Derby.

I believe that it is these same qualities of tenacity and determination that will see our world through the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite challenges and bleak moments, quitting is not an option. Right? So we will make it through. We will cross this finish line. And we will continue to rise again, together.

Thank you to all who have worked so hard to bring the dream of the Klondike to life—to the sponsors, volunteers, board of directors, the officials, and the mushers. It’s a great honor to present this race to my community, and today it is my sincere pleasure to welcome you to the second Lake Minnetonka Klondike Dog Derby! May there be many more to come!

With warmth and perseverance,