John Baker (musher)


John Quniaq Baker is self-employed American dog musher, pilot and motivational speaker of Inupiat descent who consistently places in the top 10 during the long distance Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Baker won the 2011 Iditarod with a finish time of 8 Days 19 Hours 46 Minutes 39 Seconds.
YearPositionTime
199622nd10 days, 23:26:00
199711th9 days, 23:09:36
19985th9 days, 21:43:09
19998th10 days, 10:10:54
200022nd10 days, 05:48:29
20016th10 days, 21:00:30
20023rd9 days, 05:46:30
20038th10 days, 07:33:07
20049th10 days, 00:43:00
20056th9 days, 21:41:00
20065th9 days, 17:37:45
20111st8 days, 19:46:39
20129th9 days, 13:25:47
201321st9 days, 21:49:16
201419th9 days, 18:19:15
201521st9 days, 22:12:58
201617th9 days, 05:45:05

Baker started mushing at age 14. He raced in his first Iditarod in 1996, placing 22nd. By his third race he placed in the top 10, and he sustained that position for six of the next seven years, only dropping to 22nd once again in 2000 due to dog trouble. His second best finish was in 2002, when he crossed the finish line in 3rd place in 9 days, 5 hours, 46 minutes, and 30 seconds. In 1998, he won both the Dorothy G. Page Halfway Award and the Regal Alaskan's First Musher to the Yukon Award. He has competed in every race from the 1996 to the 2013 Iditarod. In the 2009 Iditarod, he finished in 3rd place. He has 24 dogs.
Baker worked as a pilot and manager of his family's air taxi business. He also visits local schools as a motivational lecturer. Like Ramy Brooks, Baker is one of the few Alaska Native dog sled racers who compete in the modern Iditarod.
Baker lives near his extended family on the coast of the Chukchi Sea in Kotzebue, Alaska, and has a fish camp/winter cabin 30 mi away, across Kobuk Lake. His son Alex has competed in the Junior Iditarod. He also has a daughter, Tahayla. As of March 2017, Baker is engaged to fellow musher Katherine Keith; the couple run four businesses and two nonprofit organizations in the Kotzebue region. They plan to marry after both run in the 2018 Iditarod.
Iditarod awardsYearCriteria
Dorothy G. Page Halfway Award1998First to arrive at Cripple
Regal Alaskan's First Musher to the Yukon Award1998First to arrive at Anvik

Personal life

Baker is of Inupiat and Jewish heritage. His grandmother, Clara Rotman, was born in Kiana, Alaska in 1914. She was born to a Native Alaskan mother and a Jewish father and was raised Jewish and cherished her Jewish heritage. In 2011, Baker became the first Jew and the first Inuit to win the Iditarod.