The three mushers featured in this part of Rookie review were also rookies in 2022.  KattiJo Deeter, Gerhart Thiart and Bridgett Watkins were three of the six mushers who were forced to scratch due to the infamous Blow Hole storm.  But they are back to attend to unfished business and achieve their goal of standing under the burled arch in Nome.  That storm is the subject of Eye on the Trail – Mother Nature Rules.  Click to read about the storm that caused six mushers to scratch within 77 miles of the finish.

Many mushers say they were born into the sport but not so for KattiJo Deeter of Fairbanks.  She married into the sport.  After graduating from the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse with a degree in Therapeutic Recreation and not ready to settle down to a real job, KattiJo launched a Google search for summer jobs in Alaska.  The result, working for a dog sledding tour company out of Juneau, changed her life immensely.  While working in Juneau, KattiJo met Jeff Deeter and they were married three years later.  Jeff had already earned the status of Iditarod veteran, completing his rookie run at the age of 19.  On the Black Spruce web page Jeff says, “I suspect KattiJo first fell in love with Alaska, then with my dogs and then finally with me.”

The Deeters are owners of Black Spruce Dog Sledding.  They offer tours both winter and summer as training, racing and exploring by dog team permits.  While Iditarod is their main focus, they participate in mid-distance races to train up the younger dogs and themselves for the annual 1,000 mile ultimate sled dog journey.  KattiJo says,  “I am really passionate about educating people about dog mushing.  The modern world has moved so far away from this sort of human and animal connection.”

KattiJo has been helping Jeff train his Iditarod team for years.  While she loved training the dogs, Iditarod was not at the top of her to do list.  She says, “It seemed like too much.  I didn’t know if I’d ever have the skills to do that and I didn’t know if I wanted to either.  But after all the training miles and experiences, Iditarod has become my goal.  Alaska is so big and mushing is so complex, there is always something to learn.”

KattiJo provides her version of being caught in the Blow Hole storm in her biography.  She says that while in the storm and waiting it out in the shelter cabin, she was planning to sell the dogs and move to Hawaii but then after safely arriving in Nome and catching some sleep, she began thinking of her next Iditarod.  She is back, not so much to attend to unfinished business but because there was so much of the trail, the race and being with her dogs that she loved. 

Gerhardt Thiart born and raised in South Africa, has since moved to Cheboygan located in the upper peninsula of Michigan.  Thanks to the effects of the Great Lakes, snow abounds and mushing opportunities are abundant.  After high school Thiart served in the South African Infantry Corps achieving the rank of First Lieutenant Platoon Commander.  He served several tours in Angola.  After his military career, he owned a restaurant.  After he and his wife watched the 2002 Iditarod documentary, their lives went to the dogs.  In 2010 they moved to the United States and settled in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Gerhardt was certainly familiar with Siberian Huskies and the sport of dry land mushing.  He’s a decorated champion in the two-dog scooter race circuit of South Africa.  His next challenge was to transfer his experience behind two-dogs to a larger team of 14 dogs, switch from a two wheeled scooter to a two runner sled and glide over snow covered trails rather than gravel trails.  Working as a handler allowed him to become familiar with the aspect of running dogs on snow, caring for dogs in the cold and winter camping. 

During the winter of 2021, Thiart did the Copper Basin 300, Willow 300 and Denali 200 as his Iditarod qualifiers with Mitch Seavey as his mentor and coach.  In 2022, Thiart scratched 55 miles short of Nome due to a broken ankle sustained in the Blow Hole storm.  In 2023 Gerhardt is as determined as ever to be the first South African to stand triumphant under the burled arch. 

In 2018 Thiart established the GAT Foundation Inc.  The mission of the foundation is to promote, support, bring awareness to and raise funds for Military Veteran Service Dogs.  

To say that Bridgett (Moore) Watkins of Fairbanks comes from a mushing background would be an understatement.  Bridgett is the daughter and step-daughter of Allen Moore and Aliy Zirkle.  Bridgett moved to Alaska from Arkansas when she was just five.  Shortly after, she acquired her first sled dog and started down the trail doing sprint races in Alaska and Canada.  From there she took up mid and long-distance racing with a pair of the most revered mushers in the sport as coaches. 

She stepped off the runners long enough to earn her nursing degree, marry her high-school sweetheart and raise a family.  Her husband worked for Wells Fargo Bank in Nome and Bridgette worked at the regional hospital.  Living under the burled arch for six years, Bridgett’s passion for mushing was re-ignited.  The family now resides in Fairbanks at Kennel on a Hill, also known as KOAH.  Husband Scotty is a Yukon Quest Veteran.  Bridget completed the Covid shortened Summit Quest of 2021.  Going back a few years to age 13, Bridgett raced in the Arctic Winter Games claiming a gold and two silver medals in the 6-dog race for the state of Alaska.

She helped at her parents at SP kennel for many years and assisted the SP team in training and racing.  Since 2018, Watkins has been working toward her dream of running ‘The Last Great Race’ and experiencing the trail from the runners to create her own stories to share at family events. 

Being a mom, a musher, a wife, emergency room nurse and graduate student working toward her Master’s degree in nursing to become a nurse practitioner surely keeps her busy!  In her spare time she likes being outdoors on the local rivers and lakes, picking berries, hunting, fishing, skiing and surfing.  She enjoys spartan competitions to test her endurance and mental fortitude.

Bridgett says in her race biography, “Although I’ll miss my kiddos while out on the trail, there will be no greater pleasure than seeing them under the burled arch watching their mama accomplish her childhood dreams.”  Undoubtedly, she’ll be there cheering her sons on as they strive to accomplish all of their dreams in the future.

Best wishes to these rookies with unfinished business.  May Mother Nature reward your perseverance with favorable weather and a fast trail!