Lots of transportation issues have volunteers holding in McGrath. The “official checkpoint” at the community center is buttoned up. For the most part, all the trail volunteers in McGrath have moved to a spot called the Café where Iditarod Logistics is located. The most populated Iditarod spot right now is the dropped dog lot where 120 dogs await air transit back to the eastern side of the Alaska Range. Two scratched mushers, Newton Marshall and Dave Sawatzky, are also waiting to fly out.
With all this waiting the cooks, GPS tracker and Wi-Fi are the best friends we have. While studying the current race standings earlier this morning my interest turned to Norwegian, Joar Leifseth Ulsom and other recent entries from Norway. Ulsom, a twenty-six year old farmer, currently running in the top ten is having an excellent rookie Iditarod.
With time on my hands, I decided to do some research to see how Norwegians have fared in Iditarod since Y2K. Here’s what temperamental Wi-Fi let me turn up. But first let me say that I predicted, quite some time ago that Ulsom would finish as Rookie of the Year and in the top ten for 2013. If Ulson comes through, he’ll be the third Norwegian rookie to claim both honors.
Going back to 1999, Harald Tunheim earned Rookie of the Year honors finishing in 19th place. Tunheim ran again in 2000 and 2002. His best time was in ’02 finishing in 9 days, 15 hours and 10 minutes for 12th place.
A handful of other Norwegians have run the race without claiming rookie of the year. Trine Lyrek placed 37th in 2005. Tove Sorensen and Tore Albrigtsen placed 28th and 29th respectively in 2006. In that race, Tove received the Most Inspirational Musher award. Shortly before the race, Tove took a stick in the eye causing an injury that required surgery. The advice from her doctor was to sit the race out. Tove decided to run with the injured eyed covered. The race is tough enough for those who have both eyes for depth perception so to run with one eye open and one eye covered was indeed inspirational. Sigrid Ekran ran three Iditarods – 2007, 2008 and again in 2012 placing 11th with a time of 9 days, 15 hours and 50 minutes. Magnus Kaltenborn, an apprentice with Martin Buser took the Happy Trails yearlings to Nome in 2011 finishing 33rd in 11 days, 11 hours and 55 minutes.
Beginning in 2002 an uncle and his nephews made their mark on The Last Great Race. Uncle Robert Sorlie and nephew Kjetel Backen finish in 9th and 10th place respectively as rookies. Uncle Robert earned Rookie of the Year honors by crossing under the burled arch in 9 days, 13 hours and 44 minutes. Nephew Kjetil was just 3 minutes behind him. In 2003 Robert claimed victory with a time of 9 days, 15 hours and 47 minutes. This was the year the race start was moved to Fairbanks due to unfavorable trail conditions.
Kjetil Backen returned in 2004 placing 3rd. Sorlie didn’t race that year. In 2005 Uncle Robert returned with another nephew, Bjorner Andersen. Sorlie claimed the Championship in 9 days, 18 hour and 39 minutes. Andersen placed 4th claiming the Rookie of the Year award in 9 days, 19 hours and 50 minutes. Anderson ran again in 2006 finishing in 6th place. Backen returned for the race in 2008 taking 9th place. The uncle and nephews maintain separate kennels but decided in 2009 to select the best dogs out of each kennel for a superstar Norwegian team. They put Bjorner on the runners to represent Team Norway. The team put together by the three Norwegian men were athletic well trained marathoners. Team Norway undoubtedly would have been a contender had Andersen not be forced to scratch with injuries sustained in a sled crash along the trail.
Joar Leifseth Ulsom has an impressive resume of mushing experiences and victories. Joar (pronounced Uare), is a part of Racing Beringia, an education program that explores the ancient Beringia crossing of people and sled dogs from Asia to North America during the last ice-age. Joar is a Yukon Quest Veteran and has competed in all the great races of Scandinavia. He’s won the Nedezhda Hope Championship as well as the Chukotka Sprint. When he’s not farming or running dogs Joar finds time to hunt, fish, and camp and explore “the North.” Keep an eye on Joar and his team.
