Yuka Honda, 42, was born and raised in Niigata, Japan. She attended the university in Japan, studying Agriculture Physics. In 1998, she moved to the North West Territory, Canada, where she was a handler for Grant Beck. After watching the Iditarod on television the following year, she began to dream of running the Iditarod. She moved to Alaska in 2002 and, in 2009, back to Canada to start her own kennel, this time to the Yukon Territory. Ginga Express Kennel is now home to 26 dogs. “They are my family,” says Yuka. She completed the Yukon Quest in 2012. For the last three years she has worked as a janitor.