Anitra Winkler, 17, was born and raised in the Cantwell, Alaska area. She began mushing five years ago after local veterinarian, Dr. Jayne Hempstead, took her on a run out the Denali Highway. She has since run the Jr. Iditarod three times, as well as the Cantwell Classic, which she won in 2009. She graduated from Cantwell High School, where she participated in track and cross country, in the class of 2010 and is taking this year off, with plans of attending UAS next fall. She says she enjoys the outdoors and adventure. She likes to run dogs, ride horses, snowmachine, skijor, and down hill ski. She says she might not continue mushing after this year but probably will take it up again at some future time.