Team 12 is riding for a mission

‘You’re never alone’

Team 12’s message of hope aims to prevent suicide, and raise awareness that help is available

COURTESY CHRIS COLLINS / BRUCE NELSON Team 12, Chris Collins and Doug Wicken of Kotzebue are running Iron Dog to send a message of hope for those suffering from the loss of loved ones due to death by suicide, and to let people know that there is help available. Collins, an Iron Dog veteran, and Wicken, a rookie, grew up racing, though, and will be competing for the win.

This year, veteran Iron Dog racer Chris Collins has an important message he will be sharing along the trail: “Tomorrow will be a better day.”

Collins, a 2013 and 2016 finisher, is racing with his childhood friend Doug Wicken, 33, to promote suicide awareness and prevention. After suffering the second loss of a sibling to suicide, the Kotzebue athlete felt a need to do something.

“At the beginning of the season, I wasn’t planning on running Iron Dog; I didn’t have anything left to prove to myself,” said Collins, 40. “But after having my youngest brother committing suicide, and reading about how common it is, I thought, ‘I have to find a better way to get the word out’ about suicide prevention.”

This was not Collins’ first experience with suicide. Another brother took his own life five years ago, and after grieving that loss, Collins thought his family had survived the worst. Then in August 2021, his youngest brother took his life, sending the family reeling again.

That led him to read up on the causes behind suicide, and he had lots of questions.

“Why is this happening? With Alaska Natives, and males in particular, there is a higher rate (of suicide),” he said. “Is it a location thing? It is a culture thing?

“The only way that I could put some meaning toward my brothers’ suicides, and my way of coping what was going on with my family, is to get the word out to try and stop the trauma.”

When Collins presented Wicken with the idea of running the race with suicide prevention as a platform, it was an easy sell. Wicken knows the Collins siblings well; he wanted to help.

“He was even more excited after that,” Collins said.

Collins and Wicken, Team 12, have known each other since they were grade-schoolers. Growing up in Kotzebue, the two had more miles on their snowmachines when they were teenagers than many racers are able to accumulate in a lifetime. Having a friend like that at his side takes on even more meaning this year.

We got together on the designed a whole platform,” Collins said. “I created a logo with the NANA region on it, I drew a ribbon around it, I hand drew everything.”

The message Team 12 wants to convey, he said, is that you’re never alone. In times of despair, it’s easy to forget that.

“We want to tell people, ‘Don’t feel that you have to hold it in – it’s OK to reach out,” he added.

Collins was once one of 15 siblings. That number is down to 13. He doesn’t want to see it go any lower – for his own family or anyone else’s who may be suffering in silence.

RACERS AT HEART

While Collins focuses on Team 12’s over-arching goal, he acknowledges that he’s still a competitive guy, and will have to pace himself.

“When you’re with a rookie, you can’t push too hard,” he said. “The mission in general is to finish the race, try to be the quiet team. But

I’ve been racing for over 20 years. When the helmet’s on, it’s a different story.”

Collins and Wicken have been training all winter and have been covering the trail that loops from Koyuk north up through Selawik, Kiana and Noorvik to Kotzebue, then back down through Buckland. Born and raised in Kotzebue, the Red Dog Loop as it’s being called this year, is in Team 12’s back yard.

“This type of transportation in rural Alaska is 90 percent of the transportation in general, and everyone grows up riding,” Collins said. “During training, though, we are trying to push our bodies to race. It’s a race against ourselves, and we understand that.”

Look for Team 12 on the race trail with sleek pale turquoise and purple-wrapped Ski-Doos and their message of hope. And spread the word: You’re Never Alone.