Butcher Wins the Iditarod. From 1986 to 1990, American musher Susan Butcher won the Alaskan Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race four times, setting new records along the way. The following article details the harrowing conditions she and her dog teams fought through to finish each race. . Butcher Wins the Iditarod In 1978 Susan Butcher became the first woman to finish the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in the top 20. In 1986 she won the 1864-km (1158-mi), 11-day trek from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska, with the fastest time ever. And in 1988 she became the first person--man or woman--to win the "Last Great Race on Earth" for the third straight year. "My goal was never to be the 'first' woman or the 'best' woman," Susan Butcher told a writer for Women's Sports & Fitness magazine in 1987. "It was to be the best sled-dog racer." By the time she was through with competitive racing in the mid-1990s, Butcher had won the Iditarod a record-tying four times and set nine major records. Each of Butcher's victories came only after facing the grueling challenges of the race. Butcher ran her first Iditarod in 1978, finishing 19th and becoming the fourth woman to complete the race and the first to earn prize money. A year later she placed ninth. In 1980 and 1981 she finished fifth. In 1982 Butcher tasted the Iditarod's wrath. First, she and her team collided with a tree, injuring 15 dogs and leaving Butcher with a bruised shoulder. Then, just as the team was ready to continue, a severe snowstorm obliterated the trail and sent Butcher 17 km (10 mi) off course. Faced with winds of 130 km/h (80 mph) and 9-m (30-ft) snowdrifts, the crew was stranded for 52 hours. Miraculously, Butcher managed to finish second, just three minutes behind the winner. In 1983 Butcher placed ninth after being lost on an unmarked trail for 11 hours. In 1984 she placed second again. In 1985, a pregnant moose attacked Butcher's team. Two dogs were killed and 13 others were injured. Butcher and her team escaped only after a fellow racer shot the moose. She dropped out of the race and spent the next week at a clinic nursing her dogs back to health. After replenishing her team with nine young huskies, Butcher won the 1986 Iditarod in record fashion. Eleven days 15 hours 6 minutes after pushing off from Anchorage, her team trotted through a ceremonial spruce-log arch on Nome's Front Street. Residents of the historic gold-mining town cheered wildly as Butcher crossed the finish line. The time slashed 17 hours off the previous standard for the course. After Butcher's victory, T-shirts began appearing around the state displaying the slogan, "Alaska--Where Men are Men and Women Win the Iditarod." A year later Butcher set another course record, joining four-time champion Rick Swenson as the Iditarod's only other multiple winner. Swenson was just 20 minutes behind Butcher at the start of the final sprint, but he gained only one minute over the next 90 km (55 mi). He conceded defeat rather than risk his dogs' health. Butcher made history in 1988 as the first person to win the Iditarod for the third year in a row. Although not a record, her time of 11 days 11 hours 42 minutes was 14 hours faster than the second-place finisher. The run was punctuated by two vicious storms. The first hit early in the race with Butcher in the lead. While she mushed onward, most of the other 53 racers took their mandatory 24-hour rest break. "I was breaking the trail while they were sleeping," Butcher told the New York Times afterwards. She was actually disappointed when the storm ceased after one day; with her trail still visible, a few of her competitors were able to pass her. After Butcher regained the lead, the second storm hit. As she did before, she continued on while most of the others waited for the weather to clear. It never did. Butcher, with half of her 18-dog team still intact, cruised to victory. "The weather was worse than normal," she told a New York Times reporter, fighting off a case of the sniffles. Butcher's winning streak ended in 1989 when she finished in second place, 65 minutes behind Joe Runyan. She was back on top a year later, gliding down Front Street two hours ahead of Runyan. A boisterous crowd of Nome locals greeted Butcher with sirens and banners. Her time of 11 days 1 hour 53 minutes sliced 13 hours off the course record she had set in 1986. Conditions for the 1990 race were particularly unforgiving. The 70 mushers contended with the deepest snow in 25 years, several unseasonably warm days, and pesky buffalo. Shoulder-deep snow made foraging especially difficult for moose, who took out their frustrations on at least two teams. Swenson was leading near the halfway point when a moose attack forced him to turn around and seek medical help. When Butcher finished--herself three dogs short of a full team--the other racers were scattered across 1000 km (600 mi) of trail. In trademark fashion, Butcher offered strong praise for her dogs. "This team has been absolutely incredible," she told the New York Times." I've never had a team go as strong as this." Butcher's affection and admiration of Alaskan huskies only grew with each grueling race. To be sure, temperatures of -55° C (-70° F), blinding snow, sleep deprivation, avalanches, animal attacks, and any number of crises can engender intimacy between coach and team. Butcher told the Los Angeles Times: "You have to be very selfless in your dedication to your dogs. When you come into a checkpoint, although there may be a wood stove to warm your feet by, you stay outside; you take care of your dogs, get them bedded down and fed. It may take three hours. Then you can go and have your 15 minutes inside, and then it's time to go and check your dogs, massage them down, and get ready to go again. I might get a catnap." For Butcher, sled-dog racing was about much more than competition and adventure. It was a way of life. "I love winter camping," she told the New York Times in 1988. "And what could be better than being on the trail with 18 of your best friends." Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
