Home U.S. Iraq World ... FREE CBS News Video March 13, 2003 13:32:33 The Early Show CBS Evening News 48 Hours 60 Minutes ... Section Front E-mail This Story Printable Version Norwegian Wins Alaskan Sled Dog Race NOME, Alaska, March 13, 2003 Sorlie with his wife Elin Pedersen, and one of his lead dogs, Takk (Photo: AP) "It was a tough trail between White Mountain and Nome wind, cold, much wind-blown snow." Robert Sorlie Sorlie thanks his lead dogs Blue, left, and Takk (Photo: AP) (AP) Norwegian firefighter Robert Sorlie won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, fighting wind and cold toward the finish of a more than nine-day trek. The 45-year-old musher waved to hundreds of cheering spectators early Thursday as he led his eight-dog team to victory at 1:47 a.m. He finished ahead of Ramy Brooks and three-time Iditarod champion Jeff King. "I'm feeling very well," Sorlie said before he hugged his wife, Elin Pedersen, in the winner's circle. It was only the second time Sorlie had made the 1,100-mile trip from Anchorage to Nome, a town of 3,500 along the frozen Bering Sea. Sorlie is the second non-Alaskan to win the Iditarod and the second winner born outside the United States. Doug Swingley of Lincoln, Mont., won four times and Martin Buser, a Swiss native who has lived in Alaska more than 20 years, became a U.S. citizen after winning his fourth Iditarod last year. | |
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