Sebastien Dos Santos Borges into McGrath 2019 (Photo Credit Terrie Hanke)

In Iditarod there are true rookies and there are rookies.  In general conversation they are both referred to as rookies.  Confusing?  The mushers you will meet in Part II of Rookie Review are rookies but not true rookies.  So what’s the difference?  A rookie is a musher who has yet to complete the race.  A true rookie is a musher who has never started the race before.  Only TRUE rookies are eligible for Rookie of the Year Honors.  Both of these rookies have started the race but scratched short of Nome.  Sebastian Dos Santos Borges made it to Unalakleet in 2019 before scratching.  Martin Massicotte made it to Galena in 2020 before scratching. 

Sebastien Dos Santos Borges – France – Bib #44

Sebastien, age 49, is from Chazey-Bons, France.  He is an adventurer reporter and maintains a kennel of 40 dogs.  He has named his kennel Polar Team after a favorite dog, Polar.  Early in his career Sebastian adopted dogs from the Humane Association and has added bloodlines from Dean Osmar, John Baker and Michelle Phillips. 

Earlier this year, Sebastien participated in the Yukon Quest 300 run in the Yukon of Canada.  He’s been running dogs for 27 years and started after he adopted a Siberian husky from the shelter.  He’s participated in the Copper Basin 300 and also the 2017 Yukon Quest.  His 2022 race team includes seven dogs that are Iditarod rookies.  He says his dogs are part of his family and they are his friends.  He wants to pay tribute to them as great athletes by participating in the Iditarod.

Sebastien has been described as being more comfortable with his dogs than with humans.  The “why” is quite simple.  He says, “They don’t cheat and the don’t hide anything.”  He has two passions, his camera and his dogs.  He is an energetic man who has explored the coldness of the planet for more than 20 years.  Of note, with bicycle he has followed the path of a drop of water in India, a 4500km adventure.

Martin Massicotte Ceremonial Start 2020 (Photo Credit Terrie Hanke)

Martin Massicotte – St-Tite, Quebec, Canada – Bib #6

Martin Massicotte has been mushing since the age of eight when he  harness and trained the family St. Bernard to pull a sled.  He expanded beyond the one dog team and began running sprint races.  Later as a teenager, he changed his focus to mid-distance racing and did a circuit including races from 60 miles to 400 miles, including the Labrador 400. 

Massicotte has won the Can-Am Crown 250 a record ten times with six of those wins being consecutive.  He has also won the 220 mile Hudson Bay Quest.  He’s done some racing in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and is a veteran of Minnesota’s John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon where he received the Humanitarian award.     

Professionally, Martin is a cement contractor.  What he thinks about and does in his free time is sled dogs!  In 2003, he completed his first 1,000 race, the Yukon Quest.  In 2020 he attempted the Iditarod and is back in 2022 to finish what he started back then.  He’ll have experience on the northern route as he saw Cripple, Ruby and Galena before scratching.   This won’t be his first experience running down the Yukon River but it will be his first experience of mushing along the coast of the Bering Sea.

Watching a video about the Iditarod as a teenager planted the seed to come to Alaska and compete in Iditarod.  He’s worked many years to bring his team to the elite level of Iditarod teams.

Martin says, “What I like most about dog sledding is to be in nature, discover new places and I especially like to listen to my dogs and to see that together as human and beast, we are an incredible team.”