Iditarod

Citing competitiveness rule, Iditarod boots two-time Red Lantern winner Halverson

Iditarod musher Ellen Halverson of Wasilla no longer needs to worry about being a three-time Red Lantern winner.

Race officials Thursday told Halverson, 55, that her race is over.

They withdrew her from the race in Unalakleet, citing rule 36, which says "a team may be withdrawn that is out of the competition and is not in a position to make a valid effort to compete."

Halverson, the winner of the Red Lantern for being the last-place musher in the 2011 and 2007 races, was the last to reach Unalakleet, 714 miles into the 1,000-mile race from Willow to Nome.

She had nine dogs left on her team, and she wanted continue her race to Nome, the Iditarod reported.

"While Halverson wanted to continue the race, race marshal Mark Nordman made the decision based on rule 36 of the official Iditarod race rules regarding competitiveness," said the Iditarod's official statement. "Both Halverson and her dog team are in good health."

Halverson, the only two-time Red Lantern winner in the 44-year history of the Iditarod, reached Unalakleet at 11:40 a.m. Thursday. She was soon told that her race was over.

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Five teams reached the Bering Sea coast checkpoint Wednesday. Mary Helwig of Willow was the last of that group, arriving at 8:12 p.m. — about 16 hours before Halverson. By mid-morning Thursday, she was in Shaktoolik.

Billy Snodgrass of DuBois, Wyoming, was also among Wednesday's arrivals in Unalakleet. He decided later that night to scratch.

The difference between scratching and being withdrawn is one of choice, and neither implies wrongdoing by the musher.

A scratched musher is one who makes the decision to drop out of the race. A withdrawn musher is one who is removed from the race by officials, and the reasons for withdrawing a musher can vary.

In 1996, five-time champion Rick Swenson was withdrawn when a dog on his team died while crossing overflow on the Yentna River. At the time, the Iditarod had a rule that said unless a dog's death was caused by an external force beyond the musher's control — a moose or a snowmachine, say — the musher would be withdrawn or disqualified.

Swenson successfully appealed his withdrawal — and the dead-dog rule was subsequently modified.

In 2012, Jake Berkowitz was withdrawn when he cut his hand with a knife. In sixth place at the time, he wanted to keep racing, but officials ruled the injury compromised his ability to care for his dogs and withdrew him.

Mushers can also be disqualified, which happens when a rule is broken and the violation is deemed worthy of disqualification by race officials.

Rule 36, the competiveness rule, has ended several mushers' races over the years.

The most famous musher withdrawn for not being competitive was Norman Vaughan, who was 81 years old when he was booted from the 1987 Iditarod.

Except Vaughan didn't quit. He kept mushing, unofficially, and reached Nome on April 1 — six days after the Red Lantern winner finished and 14 days after Susan Butcher won the race.

Vaughan was named the race's Most Inspirational Musher that year.

In 1995, Tim Triumph became a bit of a folk hero when officials used the competitiveness rule to withdraw him in Unalakleet. Back then, the rules said mushers had to reach Unalakleet within five days of the first musher to reach the checkpoint —a deadline Triumph missed by 45 minutes. (Had that deadline been in place this year, Halverson would have met it.)

Like Vaughan, he continued his journey to Nome regardless. Later that year he appealed the decision and prevailed, and was awarded one of the Iditarod's coveted finisher's belt. He also became the subject of a movie.

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