Set to take off the day after Valentine’s Day, husband and wife prepare for their next journey on the Iron Dog trail

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - The racing duo of Hillarie and Timothy Gossett are no strangers when it comes to the Iron Dog.

Both sled pilots have taken to the course before in the last few years. But this time, they’ll be doing things a bit differently.

“I think us having each run the race separate with our own partners, coming together really this is just looking forward to a good time,” Hillarie said.

The race vets are taking on the Iron Dog trail together this year, a first for the married couple as they’ll make up Team 26.

“Everyone seems to be asking us ‘How’s the marriage going, and is it going to last through the race,‘” Tim said. “For us, it will all be put at ease once the race starts ... We work well together and we love going cross country in Alaska.”

The Gossett’s, parents of two children, already have their reason to race.

“At the root of it, we do the race because it’s an Alaskan tradition and we love this great state. We also want to model for our children how to do something difficult,” Tim said. “All the preparation that it takes and all the sacrifice from your family, your friends, your extended family, and all your support network. We’re trying to model that for the kids rather than just make them do hard things by themselves.”

While their children watch back home, they did manage to leave something behind on their parents' machines.

“Our children have notes that they wrote to us on our windshield so that when something happens, we can look down,” Hillarie said. “On mine, my son has written ‘focus on your goal’ and my daughter has written ‘you can do it.’ Then, they wrote little things on my husbands, and my daughter wrote, ‘You can do it’ and my son wrote ‘What would Joseph Gugel (Tim’s former race partner) do.’ So anytime he’s getting a little too hot he just needs to think ‘WWJGD.’ It might be the saving thing for the marriage, you never know.”

The pair will depart third from Big Lake. The 41st Iron Dog Snowmachine race begins on Feb. 15.

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