Iditarod Musher Profile

Kristy Berington, age 25, was born and raised in Northern Wisconsin.  Kristy says that together with her twin sister, Anna, the pair started handling and running dogs at a neighbor's sprint kennel. Their first dog team consisted of a Great Pyrenees and a Border Collie, pulling a sled they built out of a pair of downhill skis and a milk crate. The two continued to share their love of dogs and the outdoors, and eventually were drawn to Alaska because of these interests. This is Kristy's third season running dogs and racing in Alaska, and her second year working for Paul and Evy Gebhardt in Kasilof.  On her rookie run to Nome, Kristy will be running a team of Gebhardt dogs, and hopefully a more sophisticated sled than she first started mushing with. Kristy has raced several mid distance events in Alaska, including the Tustumena 200, the Knik 200, the Tustumena 100, and the Klondike 300.

Kristy has worked as a wrangler in the Sierra Nevada Mountains area near Lake Tahoe, as a mushing tour guide, was a member of the Army National Guard and is an avid runner. Kristy says that when she's not doing chores, running dogs, playing with puppies, or just hanging out in the dog yard she loves swimming, biking, racing and being outdoors as much as possible.