CRIPPLE, Alaska - March 06, 2008 Called the “Last Great Race on Earth” Alaska’s Itidarod has won worldwide acclaim and interest. The extraordinary race covers 1150 miles of the roughest, most beautiful terrain Mother Nature has to offer.
At the Cripple checkpoint this morning, officials huddled around the inflatable palm trees set up as a joke. The remote area was part of the famous Iditarod Mining District which saw $35 million in gold taken out of the area between 1908 and 1925. It is the “Official halfway point” on the Northern Trail. Checkers were expecting musher Paul Gebhardt as dawn broke but instead, they heard a woman’s voice across the snow-covered swamp.
It was DeeDee Jonrowe, and nobody was more surprised than she to be the winner of the GCI Dorothy Page (“Mother of the Iditarod” ) Halfway award, which comes with $3,000 in gold nuggets. A stunned Jonrowe reportedly was thrilled, saying today was her husband Mike’s birthday and she hadn’t gotten him a gift yet. The gold would do fine.
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