Dick Newton

A long time volunteer living in Takotna, Dick has managed the Ophir checkpoint with his wife Jan and local school kids since the late 1980s.Ophir, an old mining town, is considered one of the most remote checkpoints on the trail. There are not telecommunications in Ophir (unless you have a satellite phone), so Dick and Jan make sure that the volunteer school kids can hand carry the race timing data 17 miles back and forth to make phone calls back to the Iron Dog headquarters during the few days racers are passing through that checkpoint.The checkpoint is considered a school project for the kids who use this experience to learn budget planning (outfitting the checkpoint with supplies), time management and team coordination. It's only because of dedicated volunteers like Dick that we are able to keep the race running.