Yuta, 16, has been running dogs since he was ten when he went on a play date at Larisa Myers-McCoin’s house and she let him stand on a sled. “There are four sleddogs in my free run dog yard. The two girls don’t get along. So they time share the yard, with one in the kennel while the other is out. These dogs ran the Jr. Iditarod with me in 2008 and we had such a great time that we are doing it again. The rest of my team comes from Larisa Myers McCoin’s kennel. I will be running puppies and grand puppies of the dogs I first mushed. I am a sophomore at South Anchorage High School and ski on the cross country ski team. I sometimes skijor with my dogs, too. When I am not doing something outside in the cold, my passion is music. I play the piano and compose my own music. You may have heard me playing my keyboard at the downtown Anchorage outdoor market in the summer. This will be my last Jr. Iditarod because next year I will be a foreign exchange student in South America.” After graduation Yuta plans to go to college and hopes to continue recreational mushing.