Iditarod

So long little doggie: The Iditarod is finally over

After almost two and a half weeks of mushing, Ellen Halverson finally claimed the Red Lantern and brought the 2007 Iditarod Trail Dog Sled Race to a close. Halverson, a native of North Dakota now living in Wasilla, Alaska, crossed the finish line in Nome at 2:56 local time this morning, making her total time a whopping 16 days, 11 hours and 56 minutes.

I say “whopping” as if I’m making fun, but what I really mean here is that is a whopping long time to be out in the harsh conditions of Alaska’s hinterlands and still survive. It is also a long time for a team of dogs to pull a sled across 1,150 miles of ice and snow. For that, I would say Halverson deserves to get the $69,000 in cash and brand new pickup truck that winner Lance Mackey recieved.

Halverson finished the race just 14 minutes behind 57th place finisher Donald Smidt, and actually managed to make up about 2 hours on her nearest competitor during the final sprint from Safety to Nome. Even more impressive, she only had eight dogs still running on her team, half as many as Smidt.

And so we bid a fond farewell to the frontier land of Alaska and all those brave and hardy mushing teams. Congratulations to everyone who competed. There’s now only 50 weeks until next year’s race; I can tell you’re already excited.

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