Race, not finish, defines a person

WASILLA — Dee Dee Jonrowe has a sharp, humorous wit, beaming smile, her trademark blond curls and well-groomed dogs.

Jonrowe has been near the top of the state’s dog-mushing game and an Iditarod Sled Dog Race favorite for more than 25 years. She’s known for her near-wins and her downfalls.

Head to the starting line of the Iditarod in Anchorage next March and you’re sure to see Jonrowe fans with signs and unique memorabilia. She has become a people’s choice of the mushing world as some Idita-fans have been craving a female winner since Susan Butcher’s last win in 1990.

But there’s no pressure on Jonrowe to finally take the crown in 2008, right?

At the Mat-Su Valley Alaska Women’s Connection Luncheon (AWCL) November gathering at Evangelo’s Restaurant, Jonrowe discussed her 30 years of dog mushing in Alaska, stressing to luncheon members that even though a win in the race would be nice, it won’t define her career as a musher.

“I’m officially the oldest woman that ran and never won the Iditarod,” said Jonrowe, 54, to the group of 100 women, sharing a slide show of pictures of her life in Alaska. “We’ll see what God has in store for me this [coming] year.”

Jonrowe, along with singer and longtime Homer resident Kathy Little, told their stories of triumph at the AWCL, which is part of the Stonecroft International Ministries, a women's ministry that equips and encourages women and couples to impact their communities with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Jonrowe shared her road to the Iditarod, a story familiar to those who know her. Jonrowe moved to Alaska in the 1970s having spent the majority of her military childhood bouncing from one country to the next. With no friends with whom to build a lasting relationship, Jonrowe turned to her pet dog for companionship.

“I didn’t have stability or lifetime friends,” she said. “When I would get lonely and sad from another move we’d make, I’d talk to my dog and tell him all my secrets.”

When she looks back today at her up-and-down life, Jonrowe said she realizes she has shared most of her values through her dogs. She competed as a rookie in the Iditarod in 1980 and in every race since 1987, for a total of 23 races and 22 finishes. In 1988, she placed in the top 10 for the first time, finishing ninth, and has ranked in the top 10 13 times.

Her rookie race was supposed to be her last; a one-shot deal, Jonrowe said. She intended to set out to challenge herself, something her father had always inspired from her.

While Jonrowe has never won the Last Great Race, she has been close, finishing in second place twice (1993 and 1998) and ending with a time of 9 days, 8 hours, 26 minutes and 10 seconds in 1998, the fastest time recorded for a woman.

With all of her mushing accomplishments, Jonrowe is open about the setbacks and casualties along the way.

“I’ve brought a few images to visualize where somebody’s heart is,” Jonrowe said.

She took the audience through her early years in Alaska, the good and the ugly, as well as down 30 years of mushing and as a married woman with an interrupted childhood.

Despite her Iditarod accomplishments in a sport dominated by men, Jonrowe is also known because of the publicity surrounding some major setbacks. In 1996, an automobile accident outside Fairbanks killed her grandmother, and both Jonrowe and her husband were seriously injured. While recovering from her injuries, she trained harder than ever and placed fourth in the 1997 Iditarod. A dog mutiny on the Yukon River in 1999 forced her to scratch for the first time.

Jonrowe has also been a public spokeswoman in the fight against breast cancer. She was diagnosed with the disease in 2002 and has beat the odds and her cancer. Three weeks after completing a round of chemotherapy, she had decided to compete in the next Iditarod, placing 18th. Her story was widely publicized, and in 2003 she won the event’s Most Inspirational Musher Award and was named honorary chair of the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life.

“The race to me is a lifestyle,” Jonrowe said about the Iditarod. “I’ve been able to shut off my cell phone and head out into the unknown and I thrive there. It’s where I go to get my God time.”

Earlier this year, Jonrowe was again forced to scratch the race after suffering a hand injury, taking a nasty fall near the Rainy Pass checkpoint on day three of the race.

“This year was difficult,” she said. “I was depressed, very depressed, but I knew I had made the right decision to pull out. My ego would’ve left me there.”

Jonrowe said that when she was left at home with nothing to do but think, she withdrew once again, this time inside herself. For the first time in a long while, she was counting her failures.

“I had always counted on getting in my God time on the trail, and so I began to focus on what He would have in store for me next,” she said. “You get over the failures. I’ve seen a lot of people become paralyzed by thinking they will never be successful in their lives. I feel sorry for them. Just making the effort is well worth it.”

Despite the accolades and honors, Jonrowe said she still strives to overcome her shortcomings and unachieved goals.

“Winning the Iditarod is, so far, an unobtained goal,” she said. “The process of carrying yourself is asking for the help to be the best person you can be. That’s a process I think I’ll never conquer until I’m in Heaven.”

Contact J.J. Harrier at valleylife@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.