Allen Moore, 60, was born and raised in Northeast Arkansas and received a degree in Biology from Arkansas State University. He worked as a carpenter and a taxidermist before moving to Alaska with his young family in 1990. He began mushing over 25 years ago when his daughters, ages 6 and 9, arrived in Alaska and persuaded their Dad to get a couple sled dogs. Allen still has sled dogs whereas Bridgett and Jennifer are adults with families of their own. Allen and his wife, Aliy Zirkle, own and operate SP Kennel in Two Rivers, Alaska. He has been competitively mushing long distance races for over a decade. He is a two time Yukon Quest Champion and a six time Copper Basin 300 Champion. He ran his first Iditarod in 2007 and has competed every year since; except 2012. In Iditarod, Allen races a young “Junior Varsity” team. His goals are to teach the SP Kennel rookie dogs to bond as a team, learn how to race and arrive in Nome with as many strong and happy dogs as possible. The idea being that these youngsters will go on to become future SP Kennel Champions. Allen says that it is incredibly rewarding to watch these dogs develop and learn over the 1,000 race miles. Allen has been awarded the Iditarod Sportsmanship Award two times for coming to the aid of other Iditarod Mushers. In the summer, Allen enjoys fishing, hunting and helping his grandkids catch salmon.