Emily Robinson

Emily grew up with a dog team in her yard. From the age of 3 she was learning how to drive a sled with guidance from her dad, Wally. Wally built Emily a small sled and took the time to teach her how to handle it and care for the sled dogs the family owned. At 12 Emily got curious about what it would be like to race with the dogs. This was the beginning of her astounding career. At 13 Emily raced her first distance race the Willow Jr 100. She placed 6th. In 2022 she and Wally ran two teams in the ACE race and she placed 6th again. She then placed 2nd in the 2023 Willow Jr 100 and won her first Jr Iditarod in 2023 as a rookie. This was a great season of learning but Emily wanted to improve her mushing skills.

In the 2023/24 season she shocked the mushing world when she won the ACE race by 12 minutes against some of the best teams in the world. She then went on to win the Willow 150 as a rookie and the first female to win. The next win was the Yukon Quest 80, followed by the Willow JR 100 and then her second Jr Iditarod win. She won an impressive 5 races that season!

In 2024 Emily was second in the ACE race, won the Knik 100 as a rookie and then stunned everyone, including her family, when she pulled off a win in the Knik 200! It was an amazing display of grit, determination and patience. Emily was the first Jr musher to win a 200 mile adult race, she was a rookie, and the first female to win the Knik 200. She was awarded the Joe Redington Sr award for inspirational mushing, which she was honored to receive. Emily finished off the season winning the Willow Jr 100 for a second time and the Jr Iditarod for a 3rd time. She is the first female to win the Jr Iditarod more than once and only the second person to ever win 3 times in the 47 year history of the race. Emily was also honored with the Trajan Langdon Female Youth Athlete of the Year for 2024 from the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame.

Emily has even bigger goals for 2025 and her family is working hard to help her succeed. Emily started the 2025 season off by defending her win in the Knik 100! The next race was the Knik 200 and she ran a perfect race and managed to hold off the competition and win her second Knik 200! Soon she will be headed to the Kuskokwim 300 and plans to run this race to qualify for the Iditarod. Kusko is one of the toughest mid-distance races in the world so Emily has a huge challenge and has to manage her team to perfection to finish such a tough race. When the Kusko is over she can refocus on racing her peers in the junior races when she runs the Willow Jr 100 and her last Jr Iditarod race.