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LATEST
2008 is the 36th running of the 1,100 mile
Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Click Status
of the Women as of 20:36:12 on 3/17/08.
The race started on March 1st and the first person
finished on 3/12/08 at 2:46:48. Deborah Bicknell, a
rookie, was the Red Lantern crossing the finish
line in the 78th spot at 20:36:12 on March 17.
Seventeen musher scratched and one withdrew.
Background
Results
- 2008
Iditarod
Winners
Riddles'
win opens the door for
Women
Women
Who Have Run the Iditarod
(1974-2002)
- Help!
Schedule
Related Issue: Iditarod
Women,
Women
Racers
Directory,
Women
in Racing,
Women
Racers,
More
Women in
Racing,
Race
Schedules,
Notable
Women
Contact:
www.iditarod.com
Background:
The Last Great Race on Earth
You can’t compare it to
any other competitive event in the world! A race
over 1150 miles of the roughest, most beautiful
terrain Mother Nature has to offer. She throws
jagged mountain ranges, frozen river, dense forest,
desolate tundra and miles of windswept coast at the
mushers and their dog teams. Add to that
temperatures far below zero, winds that can cause a
complete loss of visibility, the hazards of
overflow, long hours of darkness and treacherous
climbs and side hills, and you have the Iditarod. A
race extraordinaire, a race only possible in
Alaska.
From Anchorage, in south
central Alaska, to Nome on the western Bering Sea
coast, each team of 12 to 16 dogs and their musher
cover over 1150 miles in 10 to 17 days.
It has been called the
“Last Great Race on Earth” and it has won
worldwide acclaim and interest. German, Spanish,
British, Japanese and American film crews have
covered the event. Journalists from outdoor
magazines, adventure magazines, newspapers and wire
services flock to Anchorage and Nome to record the
excitement. It’s not just a dog sled race,
it’s a race in which unique men and woman
compete. Mushers enter from all walks of life.
Fishermen, lawyers, doctors, miners, artists,
natives, Canadians, Swiss, French and others; men
and women each with their own story, each with
their own reasons for going the distance. It’s
a race organized and run primarily by volunteers,
thousands of volunteers, men and women, students
and village residents. They man headquarters at
Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, Nome and Wasilla.
They fly volunteers, veterinarians, dog food and
supplies. They act as checkers, coordinators, and
family supporters of each musher.
The Spirit of Alaska!
More Than a Race… a
Commemoration
The race pits man and
animal against nature, against wild Alaska at her
best and as each mile is covered, a tribute to
Alaska’s past is issued. The Iditarod is a tie
to — a commemoration of — that colorful
past.
The Iditarod Trail, now a
National Historic Trail, had its beginnings as a
mail and supply route from the coastal towns of
Seward and Knik to the interior mining camps at
Flat, Ophir, Ruby and beyond to the west coast
communities of Unalakleet, Elim, Golovin, White
Mountain and Nome. Mail and supplies went in. Gold
came out. All via dog sled. Heroes were made,
legends were born.
In 1925, part of the
Iditarod Trail became a life saving highway for
epidemic-stricken Nome. Diphtheria threatened and
serum had to be brought in; again by intrepid dog
mushers and their faithful hard-driving dogs.
The Iditarod is a
commemoration of those yesterdays, a not-so-distant
past that Alaskans honor and are proud of.
An Event for All
Alaska
Anchorage is the starting
line — a city of over 250,000 people, street
lights, freeways and traffic. From there the field
of dog teams which grow in number each year, runs
to Eagle River, Checkpoint # 1. After a restart in
the Matanuska Valley at Wasilla, the mushers leave
the land of highways and bustling activity and head
out to the Yentna Station Roadhouse and Skwentna
and then up! Through Finger Lake, Rainy Pass, over
the Alaska Range and down the other side to the
Kuskokwim River — Rohn Roadhouse, Nikolai,
McGrath, Ophir, Cripple, Iditarod and on to the
mighty Yukon — a river highway that takes the
teams west through the arctic tundra.
The race route is
alternated every other year, one year going north
through Cripple, Ruby and Galena, the next year
south through Iditarod, Shageluk, Anvik.
Finally, they’re on
the coast — Unalakleet, Shaktoolik, Koyuk,
Elim, Golovin, White Mountain and into Nome where a
hero’s welcome is the custom for musher number
1 or 61!
The route encompasses
large metropolitan areas and small native villages.
It causes a yearly spurt of activity, increased
airplane traffic and excitement to areas otherwise
quiet and dormant during the long Alaskan winter.
Everyone gets involved, from very young school
children to the old timers who relive the colorful
Alaskan past they’ve known as they watch each
musher and his team. The race is an educational
opportunity and an economic stimulus to these small
Alaskan outposts.
The “I” logo, a
trademark of the Iditarod Trail Committee, Inc. and
the Iditarod Race, was designed by Alaskan artist
Bill DeVine in the early years of the race. The
design is done on a white background with blue
thread for the dog and inner outline. The Outer
outline is done in red. The design is used on a
shield in some instances and that variation was
used on wooden trail markers in the earlier races.
On the
Trail
Every musher has a
different tactic. Each one has a special menu for
feeding and snacking the dogs. Each one has a
different strategy — some run in the daylight,
some run at night. Each one has a different
training schedule and his own ideas on dog care,
dog stamina and his own personal ability.
The rules of the race lay
out certain regulations which each musher must
abide by. There are certain pieces of equipment
each team must have — an arctic parka, a heavy
sleeping bag, an ax, snowshoes, musher food, dog
food and boots for each dog’s feet to protect
against cutting ice and hard packed snow injuries.
Some mushers spend an
entire year getting ready and raising the money
needed to get to Nome. Some prepare around a
full-time job. In addition to planning the
equipment and feeding needs for up to three weeks
on the trail, hundreds of hours and hundreds of
miles of training have to be put on each team.
There are names which are
automatically associated with the race — Joe
Redington, Sr., co-founder of the classic and
affectionately know as “Father of the
Iditarod.” Rick Swenson from Two River,
Alaska, the only five time winner, the only musher
to have entered 20 Iditarod races and never
finished out of the top ten. Dick Mackey from
Nenana who beat Swenson by one second in 1978 to
achieve the impossible photo finish after two weeks
on the trail. Norman Vaughan who at the age of 88
has finished the race four times and led an
expedition to Antarctica in the winter of
93–94. Four time winner, Susan Butcher, was
the first woman to ever place in the top 10. And of
course, Libby Riddles, the first woman to win the
Iditarod in 1985.
There are others —
Herbie Nayokpuk, Shishmaref; Emmitt Peters, Ruby,
whose record set in 1975 was not broken until 1980,
when Joe May, Trapper Creek, knocked seven hours
off the record… the flying Anderson’s,
Babe and Eep, from McGrath.. Rick Mackey, who
wearing his father Dick’s winning #13, crossed
the finish line first in 1983, making them the only
father and son to have both won an Iditarod…
Joe Runyan, 1989 champion and the only musher to
have won the Alpirod (European long distance race),
the Yukon Quest, (long distance race between
Fairbanks and Whitehorse, YT) and the
Iditarod… Terry Adkins, retired from the
United States Air Force, the only veterinarian on
the first Iditarod and one of the two musher to
have completed 20 out of 23 Iditarods. (The other
is Rick Swenson.) The list goes on, each name
bringing with it a tale of adventure, a feeling of
accomplishment, a touch of hero. Each musher,
whether in the top ten, or winner of the Red
Lantern (last place) has accomplished a feat few
dare to attempt. Each has gone the distance and
established a place for their team in the annals of
Iditarod lore.
Source:
www.iditarod.com/learn/
Iditarod
Winners
Of 658 mushers who have run the Iditarod, only15
have won as of 1/2/03
- Rick Swenson 5 times
- Martin Buser 4
- Susan Butcher 4
- Rick Mackey 1
- Jeff King 3
- Doug Swingley 4
- Emmitt Peters 1
- Jeff Riley 1
- Joe Runyan 1
- Dick Mackey 1
- Joe May 1
- Libbe Riddles 1
- Dean Osmar 1
- Karl Huntington 1
- Dick Wilmarth 1
Source: www.geocities.com/taekwondoman2002/rankings.html
2008 22 women in field of 96 (23%)
2007 12 women in field of 82 (15%)
2006 15 women in field of 83 (18%)
Results
- 2008
While the scew is just
slightly in favor of the women finishing and rookie
women finishing, it shows that women and men are
pretty equally matched in the Iditarod. And, with
few exceptions, that sponsorship has a huge roll in
how far up the finishing ladder you end up.
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Mushers
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Women
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Men
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Total (96)
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22 (23%)
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74 (77%)
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Rookies (33)
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10 (30%)
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23 (70%)
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Finished (78)
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18 (23%)
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60 (77%)
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Rookies Finishing
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8 (31%)
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18 (69%)
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Scratched/withdrew (18)
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4 (22%)
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14 (78%)
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Rookies scratched (7)
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2 (29%)
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5 (71%)
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36th (2008)running of the
Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race
Standings early Sunday, 3/17/08 at 1051 AKDT
Legend: R - Rookie; S -
Scratch; W - Withdrawn
Source: www.adn.com/iditarod/interactives/story/333339.html
Women
Who Have Run the Iditarod (1974-2002)
I count 78 women who have run the Iditarod between
1974 and 2002. Have I missed anyone? Do I have
someone in here who I confused as a woman because
of the name?
- Rose Albert
- Suzan Amundsen
- Beth Baker
- Monique Bene
- Francine Bennis
- Kristen Bey
- Anna Bondarenko
- Ginger Burcham
- Susan Butcher
- Susan Cantor
- Miki Collins
- Debbie Corral
- Judy Currier
- Sue Firmin
- Pam Flowers
- Lisa Frederic
- Connie Frerichs
- Patty Friend
- Cindy Gallea
- Donna Gentry
- Paula Gmerek
- Melanie Gould
- Jennifer Gourley
- Ellen Halverson
- Kathy Halverson
- Kimarie Hanson
- Maria Hayashida
- Gwen Holdmann
- Nina Hotvedt
- Beverly Jerue
- DeeDee Jonrowe
- Linda Joy
- Harmony Kanavle
- Rhodi Karella
- Dinah Knight
- Trisha Kolegar
- Jean Lacroix
- Karen Land
- Urtha Lenharr
- Krista Maciolek
- Elizabeth Manning
- Beverly Masek
- Jan Masek
- Betsy McGuire
- Lolly Medley
- Judy Merritt
- Leslie Ann Monk
- Barbara Moore
- Lisa Moore
- Marjorie Ann Moore
- Catherine Mormile
- Diana Moroney
- Carolyn Muegge-Vaughn
- Jamie Nelson
- Gayle Nienhauser
- Lucy Nordlum
- Christine O'Gar
- Kate Persons
- Claire Philip
- Lynda Plettner
- Karen Ramstead
- Libby Riddles
- Jessica Royer
- Karin Schmidt
- Mellen Shea
- Mary Shields
- Kari Skogen
- Kathy Swenson
- Vickie Talbot
- Kim Teasley
- Varona Thompson
- Kathy Tucker
- Shelley Vandiver
- Kelly Wages
- Susan Whiton
- Kelly Williams
- Roxy Woods
- Aily Zirkle
Source: www.geocities.com/taekwondoman2002/rankings.html
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WomenInRacing.org
©1996-2008 by of Gordon Clay
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