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Norwegian musher wins Iditarod sled dog race second time in three years
Hoisting a Norwegian flag handed to him near the finish line, Robert Sorlie captured his second victory in three years in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. He completed the route in nine days, 18 hours and 39:31 minutes.
Hoisting a Norwegian flag handed to him near the finish line, Robert Sorlie captured his second victory in three years in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
"It feels good to be here. I'm ready for breakfast," said Sorlie, a firefighter from Hurdal, Norway, after driving his dog team to Nome's Front Street, the end of the 1,100-mile (1,800 km) sled dog race.
Sorlie, 47, completed the route in nine days, 18 hours and 39:31 minutes, 34 minutes ahead of runner-up Ed Iten of Kotzebue, Alaska.
For his victory, Sorlie was awarded a cash prize of more than $72,000 and a new truck.
The winner, who has limited English, struggled a little when asked if he ever doubted he would win. "What is doubt?" he said.
Sorlie's 2003 victory had been in a race drastically rerouted because of warm weather and lack of snow.
He smiled when asked if it was important to win the Iditarod when it was run on its normal route. "I have proved that I can do the ordinary race," he said.
Sorlie said his second victory was better than his first because his dog team was superior to that of 2003. "Maybe the second is the best," he said.
This year's Iditarod was also affected by heat. The course had to be slightly rerouted in some areas because of thaw or lack of snow, and mushers had to cope with above-freezing temperatures and sometimes rain -- conditions far from ideal for cold-loving sled dogs.
Sorlie said the warm weather took a toll on part of the trail. "It was soft and it was really bad," he said. But that problem affected all competitors, he added. "It's the same for everybody."
Sorlie has run the Iditarod in alternate years, switching with kennel partner Kjetil Backen. The partnership has proved productive. Along with Sorlie's two victories, he and Backen have three top-10 Iditarod finishes. Sorlie said he is likely to be back in 2007.
