Blind woman not permitted to run Iditarod

ANCHORAGE -- A teen-age musher from Oregon who is legally blind but dreamed of competing in the 2004 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race has been barred by the Iditarod Trail Committee from entering the event.

The ITC voted Friday in Anchorage to indefinitely table Rachael Scdoris' request for special accommodation allowing her to compete. In effect, the move puts an end to the 18-year-old girl's hopes of running the world's most famous sled dog race.

Rachael took part in a conference call with ITC on Friday as her father, Jerry, listened at their home in Alfalfa, Ore. They were stunned by the result -- particularly the ITC's refusal to discuss the merits of Rachael's plan.

"I was very disappointed and actually shocked at a couple of the closing statements," said Jerry Scdoris, who declined to elaborate. "She certainly deserved more than she got."

ITC president Rick Koch confirmed during an interview that the group didn't discuss her detailed 13-page race plan. The document discussed, checkpoint by checkpoint, how two "visual interpreters" on snowmachines would accompany Rachael on the trail without giving her an advantage over other racers.

Koch said he couldn't point to a reason for denial because none were mentioned during the meeting he described as "extremely heated." He, too, believes the committee short-changed Scdoris.

"I was very hot," Koch said. "I felt Rachael deserved a discussion of the issues, whether she was accepted or denied. I felt she was owed that, given the time she put into this. I would have loved to see a discussion on this, but there wasn't one."

The entire meeting lasted less than a half-hour, Koch said, including a brief timeout to let tempers cool.

At one point, ITC member Sam Maxwell made a motion to suspend all race rules for anyone who wanted to enter, Koch said. It was seconded and voted upon, but didn't pass.

"I would term it a facetious motion," Koch said.

Scdoris' race plan put the safety and welfare of her dog team as the No. 1 priority, followed by Rachael's own safety. Dan MacEachen and Gwen Holdman would be the "visual interpreters" who would serve as Rachael's eyes, according to the plan, and communicate with her via two-way radios.

"At no time will the VI's physically assist Rachael in any manner," according to the document. "They will not connect a snowmachine to her sled, or physically aid her in any fashion. When a VI goes ahead to scout the trail the VI will not convey the information regarding specific trail conditions in advance of when a normally sighted competitor would be able to see the trail conditions themselves."

Scdoris suffers from a retinal condition called congenital achromatopsia. It impairs her central vision, but she has excellent peripheral vision along with some depth perception. Her father said Rachael's sight is better at night, when most Iditarod mushers run their dogs, than during daytime hours.

Jerry Scdoris, who's run dogs for 22 years, said his daughter has been a musher her entire life.

"This is what she does," he said. "She's a sled dog racer. We didn't just come up with this in the last year or two.

"At age 15 she finished the Wyoming stage race when it was 13 days and 530 miles. She's an athlete and a great kid."

The plan was for Rachael to compete in the Copper Basin 300 as one of her qualifying races, Jerry Scdoris said, adding she would have succeeded in two qualifying events "without a doubt."

ITC member Dan Seavey expressed concern about the idea when Scdoris' request was discussed by the board during its April 25 meeting. According to minutes of the meeting, "Seavey commented that if he wanted to be a basketball player he couldn't expect the hoops to be lowered so he could get the ball in because he isn't so tall."

He also said during that meeting that once accommodations are made for one person, "they will end up accommodating all the time."

Koch said Friday he didn't believe that allowing two snowmachiners to travel with Scdoris would fundamentally alter the nature of the competition or give her an advantage over other mushers.

However, he wondered whether Scdoris could provide a proper level of safety for her dogs.

"That wasn't an easy one for me," he said.

When the ITC took a verbal vote to table Scdoris' request, Koch said, there was silence for 25 or 30 seconds. Then Rachael asked what it meant, and Koch told her she couldn't enter.

After the meeting, at least one ITC member told Koch he supported the girl.

"The fellow board member expressed the same amazement that I had at what happened," Koch said.

Jerry Scdoris said that, at the least, he expected the ITC to give honest consideration to his daughter's request.

"Everyone has the right to their opinion even when it doesn't agree with mine," he said. "I think there's some value in reasonable discussion."