ABOUT US
We are Aaron and Natalie Harwood, owners of Wild Wind Racing Siberians, Spring
Valley, MN. Our kennel is a
purebred racing kennel focused mostly on mid-distance and stage-style racing.
Wild Wind Siberians is home to a variety of purebred huskies, most of
which descend from Howling Spirits Racing Siberian Husky lines (Phil and Linda
Ruhl).
Aaron was born and raised in Dubuque, Iowa and Natalie was born in St.
Ansgar, Iowa and then moved to Ellendale, MN as a young girl.
We met each other while working at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN
(employed as Cytogenetic Technologists) and soon found we shared a mutual love
of dogs… We first became involved with sled dogs after purchasing a red and
white Siberian for a pet (Mariah)
from a recreational musher in 1999. While
growing up, Mariah loved to walk & jog the bike paths in town—and she even
enjoyed bike-joring on the wooded trails!
We started skijoring that first winter and had so much fun we decided to get a
second Siberian (Gus)
shortly after. We lived in
Rochester with our 2 huskies until the summer of 2001 when we moved to the
country onto 24 acres near Spring Valley, MN.
The typical scenario ensued...once we had 2 dogs, we soon had 4, 6, 10,
then 2 race teams, etc. Ah...the
power of huskies!
We have now purchased
40 acres of land near Iron River, WI. Our
hopes are to build a new home & move our lives & kennel to that land in the near
future. Aaron is now working as a
consultant in the health informatics field. He started his own business, Harwood Consulting Services, LLC
in the summer of 2006, in the summer of 2007 he moved into a position as
Electronic Medical Record Program Manager with Health BPM. These
job changes has allowed Natalie to decrease her hours at Mayo Clinic, pursue
education towards a Veterinary Technician license, and spend
more time training the dogs & being at home in general.
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A NEW ADDITION!: 2/12/2008 we welcomes our first human child into the world! Daniel Aaron Harwood arrived at 3:16am, 9#1/2oz, 21 3/4" long. We took last season "off" from racing to prepare for his arrival...but this year we're going to be back on the trails! The dogs just love Daniel and the feelings are mutual. He can't get enough of the dogs and all their "kisses"! We tease that he may be the next "dog whisperer"!
* * * *
Racing interests: Our racing interests lie in the mid distance races specifically. Aaron trains the main team and will race them in 8 to 12 dog class. Natalie trains and races the "yearling" or “puppy" teams, in 6 or 8 dog races with dogs that may move up to the main distance race team the following year. Occasionally we may run in a sprint race with yearling or puppy team(s) for the fun of it--and for their experience.
We look forward to meeting you on the trails or at the races--Stop by our truck and say hi!
Happy trails!
STAFF We have been lucky to find great help in our local area!
Our veteran kennel helper is Alicia Douglas. She is currently a freshman at the University of WI-River Falls where her interests lie in pursuing a career in the veterinary field. She has a grey & white husky of her own, named Misty.
We welcomed a NEW kennel helper & handler to our kennel in the late summer of 2007, her name is Nikki Vrieze. Nikki has jumped into the mix of things around here with so much enthusiasm--the dogs love her and she's a great help to us! We look forward to helping her learn the ropes of mushing as she finishes her high school career. Nikki enjoys spending time in FFA where she is an assistant officer, in 4-H where she is Vice President, and in gymnastics where she competes all around. She says she can't sit still long so she enjoys being outside where she can really be herself. Her favorite classes in school are Biology, English and any Ag-related class.