Sorlie takes Iditarod, again

March 18, 2005

JOEL DAVIDSON/Frontiersman reporter

NOME - For the second time in three years, 47-year-old Robert Sorlie, of Norway, won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, coming into Nome at 8:39 a.m. Wednesday for a total race time of nine days, 18 hours, 39 minutes and 31 seconds.

In the hazy dawn light, Sorlie's dog team ran down Front Street in Nome, while roughly 1,000 Iditarod fans cheered. Several Norwegian fans waved their homeland flags as the two-time champ pulled in under the famed Burled Arch, officially ending his 1,161-mile journey much as he did in 2003, at the top of the pack.

In high spirits after the race, Sorlie joked with reporters, while relishing his hard-won victory. Like many of his fellow racers, Sorlie said this year's race presented some difficult challenges. Warm weather and steady rain made the trail slow and soggy, but Sorlie's dogs responded well.

He employed a slower, but ultimately steadier, attack, running his dogs at a slower pace but for longer stretches at a time. The strategy proved successful, as Sorlie's team built a lead and hung on for the win.

Sorlie took the lead well before the halfway point of the race, forcing other mushers to play a futile game of catchup. Second-place finisher Ed Iten, of Kotzebue, was the closest challenger.

"Sorlie was dominating the race and you knew you couldn't chase him," Iten recalled after the race. "What you wanted to do was get close enough to get a shot at him, but he threw everyone off that tried."

With just over 200 miles left in the race, Iten just about pulled even with Sorlie at the Shaktoolik checkpoint. Iten had been running with eventual third-place finisher Mitch Seavey, and the two of them decided their best chance to overtake Sorlie was in Shaktoolik.

They thought that if they raced past him in Shaktoolik, while he rested, then they might have a chance at beating him in the long run.

"Looking at our probable run times and Sorlie's rest times, he was slower than we were," Iten said.

When Iten and Seavey pulled into Shaktoolik, however, Iten didn't like the looks of his dogs. He saw Sorlie leave just as he got there and said it was tempting to chase him, but he knew his dogs needed rest.

"I looked at the dogs and I thought it would cost me the race if I chased him," Iten said. So, while Iten rested, Seavey pursued Sorlie. In the end, Seavey's dogs slowed down and Iten, after resting three hours, passed Seavey. Ultimately Iten finished a half hour behind Sorlie, after being as far back as eight hours at one point.

"I think ultimately I did about as good as I could do," Iten said. "Whether I should have rested two hours or three remains to be seen, but it was a key rest."

Sorlie came into Nome with two lead dogs at the helm, both members of his 2003 championship team. Sorlie said his 2005 team was stronger than the 2003 group and he expects the dogs to get even better next year, even though he won't be the one racing them.

Sorlie is part of a three-way partnership between fellow Norwegian mushers Bjonar Andersen, Sorlie's nephew, and 2004 third-place Iditarod finisher Kjetil Backen. The Norwegian trio has experienced incredible success by pooling their dogs into one collective lot, comprised of about 50 total dogs.

Since 2003, they have won two Iditarod championships, one third-place finish and a fourth-place finish between them.

The 27-year-old Andersen took fourth place as a rookie this year by using the second-string dogs from the Norwegians' collective dog pool. He finished less than two hours behind Sorlie.

Next year, Andersen will get the top choice of dogs. Backen will race the second-stringers and Sorlie will take the year off.

"This year was my time to take the best team," Sorlie said. "I have the best dogs."

But Sorlie said both he and Andersen had championship-caliber teams and he believes Andersen could have beaten him.

Just hours before the finish, back in Nome, dog handlers and racing junkies were still thinking that the hard-charging Iten team just might win.

In the 55-mile run from the White Mountain checkpoint to the Safety checkpoint, Iten gained considerable ground on Sorlie. It wasn't enough, though, and with only 22 miles from Safety to Nome, Iten simply ran out of trail.

Many of the top mushers said Sorlie ran a well-strategized race with dogs that had incredible endurance, which enabled him to build an early lead.

"Congratulations to Robert," Seavey said at the finish line. "He's a great champion and right on top of the heap right now in distance mushing."

Sorlie did say he felt pressure from Iten and was constantly looking over his shoulder during his approach to Nome.

"I crane my neck," Sorlie said clutching his neck.

Ultimately, Sorlie said he felt he had to prove himself after winning the 2003 Iditarod, which started in Fairbanks rather than in Wasilla or Willow. He wanted to win the Iditarod on the traditional route.

"Now I have done the correct race," he said, standing wearily at the finish line.

Since his first Iditarod victory, Sorlie said the race has gained incredible popularity in Norway.

"I am an ambassador for Iditarod," he said. "People in Norway know what Iditarod is."

As he came down Front Street, Sorlie said he noticed people waving the Norwegian flag and it reminded him of home.

"In Norway, we have National Day on the seventh day of May. When I came in it was like the seventh day of May."

At the conclusion of the race, a weary, sleep-deprived Sorlie was asked what it was that he really wanted to do, now that the race was over.

"I want breakfast, I think."

Contact Joel Davidson at joel.davidson@frontiersman.com.