Big Lake musher shows improvement, makes history on Iditarod Trail

WASILLA — After scratching during her first two attempts to finish the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, Ellen Halverson thought her competitive long distance mushing career might be done. But something drove her back to the trail and now she’s done something no other musher has in the 39-year history of the Last Great Race.

Last Sunday, Ellen Halverson became the first Iditarod musher to claim the Red Lantern, the prize handed to the last musher to hit the final checkpoint on the trail.

The Big Lake musher and Wasilla-area psychiatrist said she’s honestly somewhat embarrassed about receiving so much attention for finishing last, and winning the Red Lantern, which has come to be a celebrated Iditarod tradition.

“I don’t think you’re supposed to get it twice,” Halverson said Thursday. “I really did not want to have the Red Lantern.”

Halverson, who also had the Red Lantern in 2007, likes the idea of the Red Lantern, but not necessarily as a reward.

“If you think about it, the Red Lantern is a symbol, people are all back in,” Halverson said. “That’s the cool thing about it. You leave the lantern burning until everyone gets there. I like that philosophy, but I am a little bit embarrassed.”

Halverson can’t be embarrassed about the improvement shown during her fourth career attempt to complete the 1,100-mile journey from Willow to Nome. Halverson finished in 13 days, 19 hours, 45 minutes and 49 seconds. That mark’s about three days faster since her time of 16:11:56:20 in 2007.

Halverson was in a battle with Talkeenta musher Heather Siirtola for the final legs of the race. Halverson traded positions with Siirtola, who finished about 21 minutes ahead of Halverson.

“I really wanted Heather to get it,” Halverson said of the Red Lantern. “But she said she didn’t want it.”

Only two minutes separated Halverson and Siirtola heading into White Mountain, the checkpoint were mushers take the final eight-hour layover. Halverson left White Mountain four minutes before Siirtola.

Siirtola checked into Safety, the final checkpoint, about 14 minutes ahead of Halverson.

Halverson she actually planned on stopping in Safety to give her dogs one final rest, but with bad weather closing in, race officials recommended the final two mushers leave Safety as soon as possible.

“When we got into Safety, they didn’t want us to stop,” Halverson said. “The blizzard was going to get worse. They didn’t want us to get stuck there. I didn’t feel it was the best thing for the dogs to keep going.”

In retrospect, Halverson said she’s glad she left the checkpoint when she did.

Halverson credits a pair of young females for guiding her team. During points of the trail where visibility was virtually nonexistent, Halverson said those dogs, Martha and Jumper, helped her team power through.

“Those girls are pretty amazing,” Halverson said.

Halverson’s first two attempts up the trail came in 2002 and 2003. She was forced to scratch in Takotna in 2002 and Shaktoolik the following year.

“Both times the dog teams quit. As I’ve learned, these incidents don’t just happen. You see number of triggers that lead up to it. The dogs have to be able to trust you,” Halverson said. “You’re not going to make them run farther than they can run.”

After her second scratch, Halverson said she really thought she was done with the Iditarod. But the fact she didn’t finish really began to eat away at her.

A native of North Dakota, Halverson began mushing dogs after moving to Alaska about two decades ago. Halverson she began buying dogs from veteran musher Lynda Plettner and running dogs out of Plettner’s kennel.

Halverson said she’d like to compete in the Iditarod again, but probably not next year. It’s a commitment financially, and she’s not a full-time musher. Halverson is a local psychiatrist and mother to a 7-year-old. But she’s also improved and would like to apply some of the things she learned along the trail this year.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/matsu_sports.