March 21, 2006

• all over now… almost — UPDATE: ALL OVER NOW

  Note: 
  knowing that some of you like dog pics, and liking them very much
  myself, I found a few with a google search today to illustrate this
  update.  Please forgive the absence of attribution.  Most of
  these were not attributed to a photographer on the sites where I found
  them.

  The latest Iditarod update available to me is an hour and forty-five
  minutes old as I write this at 7:00 AM.  It shows the last three
  mushers out of Safety on the trail to Nome, what is usually a
  three-hour run.  Katrina Pawlaczyk checked out of Safety at 4:45,
  Steven Madsen at 4:59, and Glenn Lockwood at 5:07.  One of them is
  the Red Lantern, but it’s close enough to make predictions shaky. 
  Mushers at the back of the pack have been known to slow down to “win”
  the dubious honor of that award.  The trophy is an actual red
  lantern.  I have seen the one that has a place of honor in the
  living room of my neighbor Rhodi Karella, the “Mushing Grandmother.”

  Cindy Gallea’s 2001 lead dog, Orion, in Nome

  This year the Leonhard Seppala Humanitarian Award for compassionate dog care went to Paul Gebhardt.

  Jeff King’s lead dog Salem won the Lolly Medley Golden Harness Award.

  “…the Fred Meyer Sportsmanship Award was given to Tollef Monson.
  Remember hearing about the evil tree stump near Cripple that destroyed
  the sleds of the many, including Martin Buser? When Tollef hit the
  stump, he decided to pull out his axe and remove it from the trail.
  This, among other factors, was the reasoning behind him receiving the
  sportsmanship award, which was voted on by the Iditarod Official
  Finishers Club.”  iditaweb

  The checkpoint of Takotna won the Golden Clipboard Award as best
  checkpoint.  Jan Newton undoubtedly had a large role in that
  achievement.  Her
  pies and cheeseburgers have in recent years made Takotna the most
  popular place for taking the mandatory 24-hour rest.  Steak and
  lobster are also on the menu there, which can’t hurt.

  Veterinarian Paul Pifer won the Golden Stethoscope.

  The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race started
  horribly for 47-year-old Norwegian Tove Sorensen but ended marvelously
  on Sunday when she learned the other competitors in the 1,100-mile
  adventure across Alaska had voted her the winner of the Chevron Most
  Inspirational Musher Award.

  Only two weeks before the start of the race,
  the resident of Tromso got a rude welcome to the 49th state when she
  was stabbed in the eye by a tree branch while on one of her first
  training runs near Fairbanks.

  The branch punctured the center of her eye.
  She had to be rushed into surgery. Coming out of the operating room,
  doctors advised her and husband Tore Albrigtsen that the eye had been
  saved, but it would be some time before she could see out of it.

  The pair debated dropping out of the Iditarod
  because of the injury, but Tove — the mother of two teenagers –vowed
  to push on with only one working eye. That limited her depth
  perception, compounding the problems of guiding a dogsled down a rough
  trail, particularly through the Alaska Range.

  Still, with husband Tore never far away, Tove
  managed to finish in the Iditarod top-30. In fact, she and Tore were
  vying for Rookie of the Year honors up until the very end of the race.

  Twenty-three-year-old Mike Jayne of Fairbanks
  finally managed to pass them on the last 80-miles of trail between
  White Mountain and the Nome finish line to earn that distinction.

  adn.com

  [edit:  Rookie Glenn Lockwood won
  the Red Lantern at 08:08:56 Tuesday, March 21, 2006, with a time of 15
  days, 18hours, 8 minutes, 56 seconds.  Jeff King's winning time
  was 9 days, 11 hours, 11 minutes, 36 seconds.]

  

  • 11:44 am
  • 5 Comments