Photo courtesy of Jim Bourquin

James Bourquin was born in Seattle, and grew up in Eastern Washington. He got into mushing for the love of dogs and Abbie Quest and the love of freedom. He came to Kotzebue in 2009, and competed in the Kobuk 440 for the first time in 2010 and won the Sportsmanship Award the same year. He has also competed in the local Taaqpak 120, the Solstice 100 and the Two Rivers 200. Some of his key dogs are Mars, Ursa, Buddy, Chewbacca, Mocha, Sierra. He is looking forward to Seeing my friends up river and finishing with a happy team. Jim is sponsored by Matt Bergan, Lena Jones, Elmer Brown and all the people that give him food for his dogs, Ty Kramer, Jessie Holmes, Mille Porslid. He would like to thank everyone that has helped him over the years and expresses Congratulations “to the Iditarod Champ and the 2025 Kobuk 440 champ three peat my friend.”