Iditarod
Forget Alaska-based aviation reality television shows––the Iditarod Air Force pilots are the real deal. With twenty-eight pilots comprising 300,000-plus cumulative flight hours––over 200,000 of which are in Alaska––there is no better group of pilots to call upon to grapple the logistical soup that is Iditarod. These volunteer pilots fly straw bales, drop bags, checkpoint volunteers, …
“They’re going to let a guy from Ohio come up here and do this?” Mark Greene couldn’t believe his luck. It was his first year as an Iditarod volunteer and he got the chance to go out on the trail. They stationed him in Finger Lake, and to say Mark loved every minute would be …
The final four mushers of Iditarod XLV have arrived at the Burled Arch, the Widow’s Lamp has been extinguished or at least they tried and the Red Lantern has been awarded. The last official event of the 2017 Iditarod is the Sunday afternoon Finisher’s Banquet. Paul Hansen of Kotzebue made his way off the sea …
Rookie Jimmy Lebling is in Nome. Lebling arrived with a smile and twelve dogs on his gangline. Lebling has been saving all of his adult life to afford Iditarod. Under the arch he said he didn’t want it to end. Everything went very well from Fairbanks to Nome for Lebling and his canine athletes. Lebling …
Prior to sunrise on Saturday morning, the announcer standing at the Burled Arch was reading the biography of Matthew Failor but the musher who drove into the chute and parked under the Arch was Michael Baker. The last anybody saw on the GPS tracker was that Failor was ahead of Baker by a mile or …
Joe Carson is in Nome. He arrived in 55th place to finish his rookie Iditarod run. At the Burled Arch, Carson went to each dog on the gangline with a simple but clear message – GOOD JOB! During the Arch interview, Carson joked about wanting oxygen while running up the hills and having his back replaced. …
Ever smiling Kristin Bacon stood under the burled arch for the second year in a row. Last year her goal was to finish with a healthy happy dog team and in so doing she collect the belt buckle given to all rookies who finish Iditarod. This year, her goal was to finish with a healthy …
Rookie Justin Stielstra has earned his Iditarod Finisher’s Belt Buckle coming to the finish line in 51st place. The young Stielstra is a Texas transplant with stops in Michigan along the way. Justin worked for his Uncle, Iditarod veteran Ed Stielstra helping to train the Nature’s Kennel Race team and realized that working with sled dogs …
Rookie Justin High came down Front Street wearing a brightly colored parka and a big smile on his face. There could be many reasons for the smile – he finished the Last Great Race™, he earned the coveted belt buckle but perhaps the biggest reason was that his wife Jamiee and 1-year-old daughter were standing …
Make it 32 finishes out of 35 starts for the Lady in Pink. Not surprising, the breast cancer survivor has made pink her signature color for herself, booties, dog coats, sled bag and even her dog truck. DeeDee Jonrowe has been one of the first ten mushers to make Nome on 16 occasions. Her best …
