Just what did happen to Deborah Bicknell on her way to Nome?
Jon Little reports(Its not just an award, its an adventure [sic]) that she got caught up in near white-out conditions just short of Safety in an area called the Solomon Blowhole and pulled her dogs up to wait it out. When the winds never let up, she waited some more until a snowmobiler came by and pointed her in the direction of the nearly obliterated trail once more. After getting lost in a blizzard and drenched in a river last year, this was almost anti-climatic.
Molly Yazwinski had her pack of leaderless dogs (she had to drop her leads earlier in the race) quit on her just outside of White Mountain forcing her to scratch just 77 miles short of the finish line. Liz Parrish suffered a fall that made easy tasks quite a bit more difficult but her dogs pulled through in the end. Deb tried to be kind to her dogs and give them a rest before the last haul and ended up getting caught by blowing snow and strong winds.
So of the final three out of (or almost out of) White Mountain, Molly’s heading off to Cornell Veterinary School with her race yet to be completed. Liz Parrish (who finished 77th) has succeeded in running the Iditarod just before her 50th birthday. Deb has checked the Iditarod off her to-do list and is probably heading for surgery on her knee. (She already has had one knee replaced and is scheduled to have the other done soon.)
Fate, small decisions and luck play a great deal in who gets to finish the Last Great Race on Earth, but if you finish at all you’re a winner. Hell, even if you try and fate knocks you back you’re still a winner.
There were 96 teams of mushers and dogs that started out for Nome. Seventy-eight made it safely through the Arch at the finish line while 18 more, including Molly Yazwinski, had to scratch for one reason or another. The 2008 Iditarod is in the books.
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