History
The honorary musher for the 1988 Iditarod was “Muktuk” Marston. Elsie Marston, his wife, led the pre race festivities and cut the ribbon at the start of the race. “Muktuk’s” nick name came due to his success in a muktuk eating contest. Marston was very active in working towards Alaska’s statehood. Placing 15th in the …
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 …
Jan Masek placed 12th in the 1988 Iditarod. Masek escaped from Czechoslovakia in as stolen race car. He came to the United States in 1967. Masek began mushing in 1969. During the 1984 race, Masek married Beverly Jerue of Anvik at the Finger Lake Checkpoint at the home of Gene and June Leonard. That year, on …
Anne Patch of Homer was the administrative coordinator for the 1982 Iditarod. She also served in that capacity in 1981 so brought a wealth of experience to the job in 1982. As administrative coordinator, Anne was in charge of the headquarters across the state, the mushers’ banquet in Anchorage, the awards ceremony in Nome, and …
Jack Hooker, Montana, in the 1977 Iditarod Trail Annual recalled that he had a strange experience when he left Shaktoolik during the 1976 race. He’d stayed overnight there and while hooking up the dogs to leave the next morning, he saw people on their way to church for a funeral. As he mushed out of …
Remembering 40 Years of Iditarod. . . From our archives…. Conrad Saussele placed 29th int the 1988 Iditarod. In the 1989 Iditarod Trail Annual, Conrad said, “There are beautiful things, glaciers up there, and bridges of ice. The Farewell burn looks like a moon landscape. What do you think about? (Conrad repeated this question from …
“Mary Gooder of Wasilla was kind enough to sketch the figures on the page representing the feeling and emotions of the 1976 Iditarod mushers and their dogs because of the numerous snowstorms that kept them snowbound in various checkpoints along the trail. For instance, many of the dog mushers were jammed in at Placerville for …
