The first musher into McGrath receives the Spirit of Alaska Award presented by PenAir. Wearing bib #70, Sonny Lindner was the first musher to climb off the river and run parallel to the river along the snow-covered road and into the checkpoint. Danny Seybert of Pen Air was in McGrath to present the award to Lindner. McGrath residents were out in full force to greet and cheer for the 64 year old musher from Two Rivers, Alaska.
The Spirit of Alaska Award has been presented by PenAir since the year 2,000. Lindner is the tenth individual to receive the award. He is in the company of Paul Gebhardt, Linwood Fiedler, Martin Buser (3), Robert Sorlie (2), Jeff King (2), Doug Swingley, Lance Mackey, Aaron Burmeister (2) and Aliy Zirkle. Buser went on to win the race in 2002, Sorlie in 2005 and Mackey in 2008. With only three mushers out of fourteen going on to win after earning the Spirit Mask, it’s not exactly a predictor of Iditarod gold.
The Spirit Mask presented to Lindner is an original created by Bristol Bay artist, Orville Lind. The Mask is symbolic of the musher and dogs becoming best friends and through that bond the two become one. The mask says that both the musher and dogs are grateful for strength, courage and bravery all necessary to complete every long journey. All spirits have a reason to be on this earth. When the spirits of the musher and dogs make the special connection and become one, they have come full circle and all spirits are please.
Having passed through McGrath, Takotna and Ophir, Lindner remains out in front and may very well claim the GCI Dorothy Page Halfway Award at Cripple. Close behind are Aaron Burmeister, Paul Gebhardt, Jeff King and John Baker. Nobody in that pack has taken his required 24-hour rest. Lindner’s is perhaps one of the fastest teams on the trail.
Lindner was born in Michigan. He came to Alaska to attend University of Alaska – Fairbanks, graduating in 1972. At about the same time, he acquired dogs and began mushing. Sonny became interested in Iditarod through friends who had run in early races. Lindner made his rookie run to Nome in 1978 and since then has completed the race eighteen times. Of those runs Sonny claimed top-ten finishes six years. He was third in 1979 and second in 1981. On the 2013 southern route, Lindner made Nome in 9th place. His best time was in 2011 when he finished in 9 days, 13 hours and 2 minuets. Lindner is also the winner of the inaugural Yukon Quest. Lindner works construction, farms and trains dogs. He says he enters the race to see if his dogs have learned the skills that they have worked on during training.
Lindner, a quiet guy is well liked by his fellow mushers. He may very well be up for the sportsmanship award for this tougher than ever 2014 Iditarod. After Aaron Burmeister twisted his knee, Sonny came along and helped apply a splint made of who knows what that was secured by an enormous amount of duct tape. Craig Medrid writing for the Alaska Dispatch says that’s typical of Lindner, helping out and improvising.
