The slender figure moves from one dog to another, stroking a muzzle, patting a flank, and this whole pack resembling short-haired hunting dogs, black or speckled never takes their eyes off their master, with whom they share a passion: mushing.

For Iker Ozkoidi Garcia, who discovered the sport at the age of 11 thanks to his father, who had developed a passion for it, it has become a way of life. “At the time, no one practiced it in Spain, but my father started with our dogs,” Iker recalls. “Back then there was just one other amateur doing it. My father introduced me to it, but he only ran dogs for pleasure. Very quickly, I wanted to race,” says the world champion and two-time winner of La Grande Odyssée.

“I did the Pirena, my first race, at 15. We crossed the entire Pyrenees mountain range. It was incredible,” remembers the seemingly unstoppable musher. “I remember my father and I watching all the sled dog movies set in the far north. It made us dream.”

Over the years, Iker, the Basque, seized every opportunity to race with his dogs in his beloved Navarre. But he knew that to improve and fully unlock the potential of his team, he had to explore the vast snowy landscapes of Scandinavia, the cradle of mushing. In 2009, he won the Pirena, then traveled with his team of Eurohounds to compete against Norwegian and Swedish champions. This experience only deepened his enthusiasm for the sport, which gradually became a true way of life. He went on to compete four times in the Norway Trail.

Season after season, he took part in competitions and refined his breeding, as “all the dogs were born at my home in Latasa, Navarre, at the Argain kennel.” There, he lovingly cares for his “fur family” of 22 dogs, most of them high-level athletes.

In 2019, he entered his first La Grande Odyssée. The following year, he competed in the final two trophy events alongside the major Alpine race unique in Europe which he won. Over the next three years, he secured second place overall before finally reaching his ultimate goal. In 2025, he at last won the race he had dreamed of for years a magnificent victory crowned in the same season with a world champion title in Røros, Norway.

This year, despite very unfavorable training conditions in Spain heat lasting until late October and very little snow in December the Basque musher Iker Ozkoidi Garcia dominated the 22nd edition of La Grande Odyssée, winning every stage, including the prologue. “I am very happy, very proud of my dogs, and once again I found this race absolutely beautiful,” he concludes.

Patyricia-M.Colmant