Gordon Brinker placed 44th in the 1988 Iditarod. His time was 18:07:44:07. Gordon came to Alaska from Oregon in 1979. He lived in Shell Lake- where the historic Iditarod Trail ran right behind his house, which prompted a natural interest in racing. The Shell Lake musher was a surveyor for F. Robert Bell and Associates in Anchorage. Gordon ran the Jr. Iditarod in 1981, 1982, and 1983. In 1984, he entered but scratched from Iditarod. In 1986, he finished the race. In 1987 he scratched because he was very sick. “The people of Shell Lake are very enthusiastic about the Iditarod and created a “First Person to Shell Lake Award”, giving the musher an amount of money, the sum collected before the first musher arrives. Martin Buser won this award in 1988. He got $100.” Resource, 1989 Iditarod Trail Annual
The first woman from England to enter Iditarod was Lesley Anne Monk. She placed 45th and won the Red Lantern in 1988 with a total time of 19:13:22:55. Prior to entering in the Iditarod, Leslie ran sprint races in Britain. When she came to the United States, she worked with Harris Dunlap, a sprint racer, and in 1986-87, she worked with Harry Sutherland as a dog handler when he was training for Iditarod. “I gave up hairdressing to devote time to training registered Siberian Huskies,” she said. Leslie’s husband, Roy, went to McGrath to welcome her at the time he thought she would arrive. Two days later, Roy was still waiting. He was sleeping on the floor of the checkpoint across from the HAM radio operator’s station. People offered him more comfortable sleep arrangements but he wasn’t interested in anything different because he wanted to be right there in case she arrived in the early morning hours. He bedded down on the floor for a third night saying, “I was supposed to be back in Anchorage yesterday. I have no idea what’s keeping her.” Later he found out that she’d camped in a bad storm along with several other rookies. After Leslie reached Nome as the Red Lantern, a reporter stated that since Susan Butch won the race and Leslie was the Red Lantern, ‘women bookended this race.’ (Resource, 1989 Iditarod Trail Annual)
The 11th annual Junior Iditarod was held in 1988. This 150 mile race was held on February 27 and 28. The race started at Settlers Bay and went to Yentna Station Roadhouse where the mushers took a 10 hour layover. The 14 mushers (nine boys and 5 girls) cooked for their dogs and camped out. Dan Flodin of Chugiak was the 1988 Champion. The other mushers in finishing order were, Sherri Hummer, Anchorage, Laird Barron, Jade Lake, Lance Mackey, Wasilla, Jared Jones, Wasilla, Bobbi Jo Scott, Houston, Stanley Walker, Grayling, Tim Patten, Grand Marais, MN, Jason Barron, Jade lake, Jason Mackey, Wasilla, Julia Flodin, Chugiak, Aimee Bettine, Glenallen, William Ferguson, Wasilla, and Nissa Anderson, Trapper Creek. This was the 4th Jr. Iditarod that Dan raced. His lead dog, Twenty Grand, was the same lead dog that his father, Steve Flodin, used when he ran Iditarod.
The 1988 Race Headquarters was the Clarion Hotel in Anchorage. The beautiful furnishings were removed from the hospitality room and replaced with 6 conference tables. The room was equipped with ten telephones, two record-a – phones, a copy machine dontated by The Office Place, a Macintosh Plus computer, a coffee maker donated by Quality Coffee Service, and a microwave oven brought in by one of the volunteers. About 50 volunteers used this equipment, answering phones 17 hours a day for over two weeks. Helen Roberts came on board at the last minute to supervise this operation. Additional space on the 3rd floor was donated for the HAM Operators to work and for the computer people. The computer operators, using equipment donated by ComputerLand and Alaska MicroSystems, and software designed by students at the Nome Beltz High School and other software developed by Bill Hutchison of Anchorage, logged all the information into computers as it when it came in from the trail by radio. Print outs of race information were used by those answering the phones so they could give correct information to those that called the phone room. People from all over the United States called the phone room. There were always at least 5 volunteers working the phone lines. Most of the volunteers at headquarters were from Alaska, but there were three from out of state. ‘And what would Iditarod be without “Speedy”, who for the umpteenth year had taken leave from his duties in the British army. It didn’t take long for his, “Can I help thee?” to become very familiar to those calling headquarters for information. The volunteers also kept an updated chart with in and out times and checkpoint information. This was enjoyed by the hotel guests who made repeat visits to race headquarters to keep up with the race news. The record-a – phones were updated every hour. Race fans enjoyed getting the recorded messages. During the late afternoons, students from Romig Junior High School worked a special student phone line. Many Anchorage schools assigned special projects for students to do during the race. Gail Somerville, a teacher at Denali Elementary School was a supervisor for the students. (Resource: 1989 Iditarod Trail Annual)
John Patten placed 18th in the 1988 Iditarod. He called himself ‘The Mineral Ice Team.’ John was a manufacturer, clothing designer, and retailer. He owned Sawtooth Mountain Sled Dog Works for three years. Although John was a rookie in the 1988 Iditarod, he wasn’t a rookie musher. He’d won the first John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon and had finished the All Alaska Sweepstakes race in 1983 as well as many other races. Prior to the 1988 race, John said, “Competing in the Iditarod is the next step in a life-long love affair with wilderness-related adventures.” After crossing the Dalzell Gorge in 1988, John said, “I got on the ice at the Dalzell Gorge and it was shaped like a big platter, sloped in the m idle with a bunch of water in it. I guess I needed a bath. Once I told the dogs to get rolling they took me right out. It was a warm day, not something dangerous. Then I came around the bend and saw this photographer up there. And, I thought, that’s kind of a dumb place to stand. So I tried a couple of poses and all of a sudden, we were on the ice and now I know why the photographer was there! Then I floundered and struggled and grabbed for trees. Now somebody wil have this picture of me and people will see it across Alaska or across the country. I’ll be the most famous bather in the country this winter.”
Robin Jacobson placed 10th in the 1988 Iditarod. He handled dogs for Gary Paulsen from Minnesota for the 1985 Iditarod. His rookie year was 1987and received the Rookie of the Year Award. (A trophy and a check for $1,500 donated by Clara and Jerry Austin of St. Michael.) At the start of the 1988 race, Robin told a reporter that “The main thing I learned my rookie year was to not sleep a lot! I am more mentally prepared this year and I am coming back with some knowledge and skills and hope to improve my finish.” Finishing in 10th place, he met his goal.
Lucy Nordlum, Kotzebue, placed 13th in the 1988 Iditarod. Lucy was the Rookie of the Year, earning the $1,500 and trophy donated b y Clara and Jerry Austin of St. Michael. She listed her occupations as commercial fisherman. Her husband, Roger, listed his occupations as a miner, pilot, and fisherman. Roger had run in the 1977 Iditarod and had earned the name, “The Kotzebue Drifter.” (Roger ran other Iditarods, too, and had served as a Board of Director for the Iditarod Trail Committee.) Lucy began mushing in 1978.
*The images in this article come from the 1989 Iditarod Trail Annual. Official Artists are listed as Bill Devine and Jon Van Zyle. The majority of these tidbits come directly from the 1989 Iditarod Trail Annual – as written and as told by those involved in the 1988 – 89 Iditarod races. Compiled by Diane Johnson.
