Dave Branholm, 58, was born and raised in North Carolina. When he was 17, he headed to Alaska. He grew up with the Redington’s and started mushing in 1976. His first Iditarod was in 1993. He has been training with Ray Redington all year and will be running Scott Janssen’s team in this Iditarod. Dave recently retired from St. Mary’s Native Corporation, where he ran a company for them. He has two adult children, Heather and Dave and four grandkids.