victory on Iditarod

Cathleen Griffin usually feeds her passion for the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race through the Internet, but next week she’ll travel to Alaska for the first time to see the winner cross the finish line in the old gold rush town of Nome.

“I just can’t imagine being there,” said the Sebago, Maine, resident. “It’s something that a person only dreams about.”

Most faraway fans—and they are legion—aren’t so lucky as to be there in person for even part of the 1,100-mile race. So Iditarod buffs from around the world rely on their computers to experience the next best way to track a trail that crosses two mountain ranges then goes along the dangerous sea ice up the Bering Sea shore on Alaska’s western coast.

King said he recognizes the irony of being a contender in his last Iditarod with a chance to win some of his own money. "It would be kind of fun to win back the very money I gave, but I think it's a pretty good demonstration that it's not the reason we're here. ... As nice as it is to have the purse, it's the trophy that I will remember longer than the purse."