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 communications, among other tasks. Anne and Jim worked together compiling and distributing the musher’s packets, the checker’s packets, and the press packets.
Cpl. Peter “Speedy” Elstub, a member of English Army stationed in Viersen West Germany, made his first trip to Alaska in 1980 to see the end of the Iditarod race. In 1982, he again returned to Nome. Speedy was one of the Nome volunteers, working at headquarters during the nightshift. Speedy kept his sleeping bag in the mini-convention center due to room shortage. On the night the first mushers were expected to arrive, Speedy had his camera checked out, loaded with film, and had his flash bulbs ready to go. He went to get a few hours of rest in the unheated back room of the mini. In his good sleeping bag, he wasn’t bothered by the cold. During the 1982 race finish, the Nome city siren didn’t work. Speedy, who’d been told he couldn’t possibly miss the mushers arriving in Nome because of the siren, slept through the arrival of the first 7 mushers! When he awoke from his nap, Speedy rushed out to take pictures of the 1982 finish, only to be devastated to find out what he’d missed! Speedy had saved up his leave time, arranged to be in Nome months in advance, and had told all his buddies he’d take photos of the finish of the race, only to sleep through the most exciting part of the race. What did he do? He made arrangements to return to the 1983 race and secure a ‘wakeup call’ if necessary!
A few highlights from the 1982 race. . . Shortly after the race began, it started to snow and it just kept snowing. Herbie Nayokpuk, Joe Redington, Sr., Larry ‘Cowboy’ Smith, Susan Butcher, and Mitch Seavey took the wrong turn near Skwentna and changed the whole complexion of the race. Fresh snow slowed the progress from Knik through Rainy Pass and down onto the Kuskokwim. Babe Anderson was the first musher into McGrath for an award and was welcomed home by members of his family and other race fans. Emmit Peters was the first musher to the half-way point at Innoko River Lodge at Cripple Landing. Peters was also the first musher to Ruby, his home, where he was wined and dined by the Bristol Bay Native Corporation and the Anchorage Westward Hilton.
Rookies Stan “Hip-Hip Zuray of Tanana, Dean Osmar of Clam Gultch, and Mitch Seavey kept up with the race leaders for some time. At the Yukon, the front pack started to move ahead. No one could foresee the stall from the storm that was about to happen! The wind became the main competition as heavy snow, lost trail, and slow going plagued the mushers as they traveled off the Yukon and over the hills to Unalakleet. Gusting winds up to 70 miles an hour and fresh snow brought the race to a screeching halt. Teams stayed 50 to 60 hours waiting for winds to die down and visibility to be better than five feet! While waiting, some mushers in Shaktoolik passed time by playing basketball. The mushers lost to the ‘Shaktoolik Papas’ by a score of 55 to 54. According to Emmitt Peters, someone forgot to wake him up and he missed the game.
Herbie Nayokpuk, who had open – heart surgery in October before the start of the race, broke loose and tried to make it through the storm to Koyuk, but 24 hours later, he was back in Shaktoolik. When there was finally a break in the storm, mushers headed out on the trail to continue the race. More snow awaited the mushers as they got to White Mountain for their mandatory stop, causing more delays. Waiting in Nome for the finish of the race was interesting! Some people had to change their reservations not but once, but twice! Some played cards and cribbage, listened to Hobo Jim’s Iditarod Trail Song until they knew all the words to the song, and others walked up and down Front Street. Fans waited, ate, drank, and visited race headquarters trying to find out information about the race. Even race officials had to make changes in plans. The award ceremony date had to change when no mushers had arrived! The weather had caused logistical problems for race officials because they couldn’t get HAM operators into coastal villages. Veterinarians and race officials had trouble moving along the trail, too. The Iditarod Air Force planes had been grounded from Ruby to Nome. Old Man Winter had called the shots of the 1982 Iditarod as fans waited to see who would make it to Nome first!
As mushers finally reached Safety it appeared there was going to be another photo finish. But Swenson and his famous lead dog, “Andy” crossed the finish line first, Rick’s 4thchampionship race. This was a sixteen day, four hour, forty minute, and ten second – tough going by a might tough group of competitors- finish of a race. At the finish line, Rick said, “It was the best time I’ve had in seven races. We got to do some camping this time, and the weather made it necessary for us to work together like we used to.”
According to the 1983 Iditarod Race Annual, Valerie Sobocienski of Nome, who along with her husband, Stan, operated the Bering Sea Saloon on Front Street, and was on hand to greet the 1982 Iditarod mushers. She stated, “I’ve been at the finish line each year since the first race in 1973. Our son, Colo, was a month old then and I wrapped him up good and drove the truck out to Farley’s fish camp to watch Dick Wilmarth, the 1973 Iditarod Champion, come in. I was so excited I didn’t wait until he got to Front Street. I went back to Farley’s camp later on when other mushers were coming. I even gave directions to one musher on how to get to town. His dogs were eager to finish the race, too. They tried to get in the truck with me.” Until he was old enough to go to the finish line by himself, Colo always accompanied his mother. “I guess you could say he’s grown up with the Iditarod. In 1982, the tenth annual Iditarod Trail Race, Colo watched the mushers come in by himself. After all, it was the 10th Iditarod and Colo was ten years old, too!
In the 1983 Iditarod Race Annual, Al Crane, President of ITC in 1982 said, “We’ve come a long way, folks. I say ‘we’ because I mean just that! No single soul is totally responsible for our success, because the Iditarod is bigger than any individual or group, its mushers, or its board. It’s a cause, a service, and a belief. It’s Alaska and a dream that just for a moment takes everyone involved into a time and space together, all the factions, criticisms and praises are laid aside while the whole presentation troops through Alaska’s frontier from Anchorage to Nome.”
In the 1983 Iditarod Trail Annual, Bob Sept, then President of the ITC said, “For the past one million years, man has lived with dogs at his side. For three weeks in March, man will once again return with his dogs to an existence that goes back into that past. Nowhere can this reliance between man and dog be better experienced than by participating in the Iditarod Trail race. The sled dogs are what the race is all about. They have hearts that rarely say quit. So, too, are the hearts of families and friends who support Iditarod mushers. My heart goes out to each and every Iditarod sled dog, musher, and his or her family as this 1983 race is run.”
In 1885, ‘The High Plains Drifter’, Steve Cowper, was an Iditarod volunteer at Rabbit Lake. (Steve Cowper went on to become Governor of Alaska.) In the 1987 Iditarod Trail Annual, Cowper stated that his experience as checker at Rabbit Lake was a great experience. “It was a chance to turn back the hands of the clock to a bygone era. Roughing it in an old tent and spending hours cutting wood to feed the ever burning fire, were reminders of Alaska’s yesteryear.” Cowper stated he believed that the sport of dog mushing could only grow in stature and worldwide recognition.
*These snippets from Iditarod’s past are a part of our Iditarod archives, preserved in the Iditarod Trail Annuals. Please keep in mind, we’re bringing these to you ‘as they were written’ back then, historically correct according to the publications, but not always 100% accurate in what might be politically correct to say today. An example, Cpl. Peter “Speedy” Elstub, a member of English Army- would have been a member of the ‘British’ Army, not the English Army, but we’re bringing you information from these archives.
Compiled by Diane Johnson, Education Director
