In this image, the Widow’s Lamp helps to light the way to the finish line for Karin Hendrickson as she neared the finish line. Karin arrived in Nome with a time of 10 days, 13 hours, 55 minutes and 0 seconds.
A Picture Tells a Story….
Reaching Nome was a great accomplish for Karin who was unable to race in the 2015 Iditarod due to a tragic accident in November of 2014 when a car slammed into her team while she was on a training run. After a year in rehab and recovery, Karin was at the starting line for the 2016 race.
Karin started building her own team in 2006. Prior to the race Karin stated, “I really never expected to do any racing, much less run the Iditarod! I am not too sure how it all happened, but just two years later I found myself signed up for my first Iditarod. 2016 will be my fifth time to leave the starting line of ‘The Last Great Race on Earth.’ I was hit by a truck while training last fall and broke my back in three places. Luckily all my dogs were O.K., but I wasn’t able to run in 2015.”
It takes true grit and determination to train and race in Iditarod .
For Karin, there were the added long and painful hours of training as she pushed through her rehab to recovery and on to finish the 2016 Iditarod.
Each musher finishing in Nome is greeted by this lamp. Lit. Silent. Waiting for the final musher, the lamp lights the way to the finish line.
*The Widow’s Lamp is lit and hung from the Burled Arch in Nome. In a way, it serves as a communications tool, telling all that while it is lit, there is still a musher on the trail. When the last Iditarod musher finishes beneath the arch, the Widow’s Lamp is extinguished. This symbolizes that all mushers are off the trail and the Iditarod has completed for that year. Read more about the Widow’s Lamp at this link.
