Sorlie wins for 2nd time

NOME, Alaska – Norway’s Robert Sorlie traversed one of the slushiest trails ever, overcoming insomnia and a dwindling dog team to win his second Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in one of the closest races in years.

Waving a Norwegian flag, Sorlie crossed under the burled arch that serves as a finish line in Nome at 8:39 a.m., completing the 1,100-mile race across Alaska in nine days, 18 hours, 39 minutes and 31 seconds. It was his second victory in three tries in the grueling race.

John Hessert, who grew up in Cumberland Center, still has six checkpoints to clear before he gets to Nome.

Sorlie was still in the winner’s circle when Ed Iten of Kotzebue crossed the line 34 minutes later. Seven minutes later, 2004 winner Mitch Seavey of Seward finished.

Sorlie, a 47-year-old firefighter, greeted his 26-year-old nephew, Norwegian Bjornar Andersen, who finished fourth, the best rookie showing ever, 81 minutes after he completed his winning run.

“I was always worried about the other mushers,” Sorlie said. “In the last three days, I have slept one hour each night.”

Sorlie won $72,066.67 and a pickup truck for his victory in the 33rd Iditarod. The top 30 finishers share most of the $750,000 purse.

Unseasonably warm weather made this year’s race a greater test than previous runs, race leaders said. Above-freezing temperatures turned much of the route into a wet, sloppy mess. The temperature had dropped to 25 degrees when Sorlie reached Nome, but locals had trucked in snow to provide a fresh finish on Front Street.

Colder weather is easier on the dogs, which generally run best in a range from 20 degrees below zero to 20 degrees above. Lack of a solid snow base forced race officials to move the March 6 start from Wasilla to Willow, and patches of grass were visible along some stretches of trail.

“It was so warm in the race we could have used T-shirts,” Sorlie said, laughing.

Seavey said the course was awful.

“The trail was soft and punchy,” he said. “We spent hours and hours and hours wallowing in deep snow.”

Sorlie finished the race with eight dogs, having dropped eight sick, sore or tired dogs at checkpoints along the route. He completed the race with half the 16 required at the start, and with the same number that pulled him to victory two years ago. His winning team traveled an average 4.65 mph.

The Iditarod is a fairly recent challenge for Sorlie, a three-time champion of Norway’s premier long-distance sled dog race, the 600-mile Finnmarkslopet.

“I think I am an ambassador for the Iditarod in my country,” Sorlie said. “This is good for the sport, it is good for me and for all the mushers.”

This year’s 1,100-mile trip from Anchorage to Nome, a town of 3,500 at the edge of the frozen Bering Sea, was Sorlie’s third. He finished almost seven hours faster and was ninth on his first try in 2002, a rookie record broken by his nephew Wednesday.

As in his 2003 victory, Sorlie grabbed the lead early. The owner of a small kennel, he fended off a strong field that included five former Iditarod champions, including Seavey, and seasoned veterans like runner-up Iten and Ramy Brooks of Healy, who was second in 2002 and ’03.