NOME ‹ Norwegian Robert Sorlie's final opponent was brutal weather, and he beat it Thursday to win the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog race.
The 45-year-old firefighter from Hurdal battled blowing snow and bitterly cold temperatures on the last 77-mile leg of a nine-day race he controlled almost throughout.
ŒŒIt was a tough trail between White Mountain and Nome ‹ wind, cold, much wind-blown snow ‹ but I'm feeling good now,'' Sorlie said. ŒŒIt's good to come to Nome.
ŒŒIt is for me, a dream come true.''
Sorlie finished the event in 9 days, 15 hours, 47 minutes. He will take home $68,571 and a new truck.
Sorlie waved to hundreds of cheering spectators on Nome's Front Street as he led his eight-dog team to victory at 1:47 a.m.
Ramy Brooks finished second for the second year in a row, reaching Nome at 3:37 a.m. That was 1 hour, 49 minutes, 34 seconds behind Sorlie, who became only the second non-Alaskan to win the race.
ŒŒI'm feeling very well,'' Sorlie said, then hugged his wife, Elin Pedersen, waiting for him under the burled arch that marks the finish line of the race to this Gold Rush town on the Bering Sea.
The temperature hovered near zero as Sorlie's team trotted into town.
Brooks staged a late challenge to Sorlie, passing him along the coast Tuesday by cutting his rest time before falling back Wednesday.
Brooks already has his sights set on the 2004 Iditarod.
ŒŒI think that every time you do it, you run into things to improve on next year,'' he said.
He probably won't have Sorlie to contend with. The winner has promised his wife he won't enter the 1,100-mile race next year.
Last year, he finished as the top rookie and set a new record for a first-year musher.
Three-time champion Jeff King was third, followed by four-time winner Martin Buser. King reached this town of 3,500 at 9:17 a.m., and Buser came in at 1:40 p.m.
ŒŒThird's not bad at all, especially when you're beaten by two good teams like those guys had,'' King said. ŒŒRobert in particular had everything very well figured out and managed his team perfectly.''
Buser kissed and hugged his dogs after completing his 20th Iditarod. Sorlie and Brooks greeted him at the finish.
ŒŒThere's no place like Nome!'' Buser said.
ŒŒYes, of course,'' Sorlie agreed.
Ken Anderson was fifth, followed by Linwood Fielder, Ramey Smyth, John Baker, Ed Iten and Sonny Lindner.
Sorlie also became only the second foreign-born winner.
ŒŒThis is now a world race, thanks to you,'' said Gov. Frank Murkowski, on hand to congratulate Sorlie at the finish line.
Buser is from Switzerland, but has lived in Alaska more than 20 years and became a U.S. citizen after winning last year.
The first non-Alaskan winner was four-time champion Doug Swingley of Lincoln, Mont.
Sorlie also is a three-time champion of Norway's premier long-distance sled dog race, the 600-mile Finnmarkslopet.
Sixty-four mushers started the $600,000 event. By Thursday, 15 had scratched along the way.
A lack of snow south of the Alaska Range and warm winter temperatures forced race officials to change the route this year.
Instead of canceling the entire event, the race's restart was moved north to Fairbanks.
The new route was 70 miles longer than the traditional trail and followed terrain that even veteran mushers weren't familiar with. Then, last weekend, race organizers decide to shorten the race, dropping a loop between Anvik and Shageluk because of poor trail conditions. That cut about 50 miles from the route.
The changes were the most drastic since the race from Anchorage to Nome was first run in 1973.
