Kevin Hansen was born into a mushing family and has always enjoyed following the Iditarod and Kobuk 440 and especially enjoyed his family hosting mushers as a young kid. He grew up running dogs, participating in local sprint races, then transitioned to distance mushing. Hansen’s recent experience includes running the 2017 Kobuk 440 and 2021 Taaqpak 120. Hansen Kennel has 20 dogs and the lead dogs are Kipchaq (Kip) and Lake. Hansen is sponsored by Paul and Margaret Hansen and Jerry McCall. In response to the question of who he would like to thank, Kevin Hansen said “I want to thank my family, Greta Schuerch & Kade Hansen for their support. Thank you to my parents for letting me race their dogs and a special thanks to my dad who has raised most of these dogs. He's done a great job taking care of them and putting in training miles. I also want to thank Richie Diehl in Aniak, and Lee Ryan with Ryan Air, and the many friends and family who are always willing to help with training runs - Hans and Ashley Hansen, Reid Magdanz, Andrew West ,Tyler and Cassia Teuscher, Ed and Ruth Iten, Brent Schuerch, and the rest of the Schuerch family in Kiana. Lastly, I want to thank all the sponsors of the Kobuk 440 Racing Association for supporting dog mushing and helping keep the tradition alive in the Northwest Arctic.”