Iditapod bonus: Apayauq Reitan interview with Shady Grove Oliver

A woman in a purple outer layer ties a boot while sitting on a cafeteria bench
Apayauq Reitan ties her overboots after stuffing her feet in a garbage bag to protect them from overflow and other water. March 9, 2022 (Lex Treinen/Alaska Public Media)

Kaktovik dog musher Apayauq Reitan, the first out trans woman to compete in the Iditarod, talks to Iditapod colleague and Alaska Public Media contributor Shady Grove Oliver – originally for a piece in the Guardian newspaper – about Reitan’s goals for this year’s race, what it’s like to mush dogs, her Alaska Native culture, coming out as trans and a lot more.

RELATED: ‘Proud to be an Iñupiaq woman’: Apayauq Reitan makes history as first out trans woman in the Iditarod

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a portrait of a man outside

Casey Grove is host of Alaska News Nightly, a general assignment reporter and an editor at Alaska Public Media. Reach him atcgrove@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Caseyhere

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