FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) -- Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers found himself behind a different set of athletes in Fairbanks, Alaska. They were a team of jumping, barking, impatient sled dogs.

Rodgers took part in the Jeff Studdert Passenger Race, the first of several mushing events in advance of this weekend's Open North American Championship Sled Dog Race.

Rodgers is expected to be the starting quarterback of the Packers now that Brett Favre has retired. He started the race as a passenger in the sled driven by a local veterinarian, but the two traded places at the halfway point and Rodgers drove across the finish line.

Rodgers and fellow athletes were in Alaska with a Christian-based organization doing social activities with local Army soldiers and families at Fort Wainwright.

Even in Alaska, Rodgers had fans asking for his autograph.

Tony Crane, Junior, of North Pole, got a football signed by Rodgers. Crane's father grew up near the Packers' home of Lambeau Field in Green Bay.