{people: Dee Dee Jonrowe, Iditerod musher}

The Iditerod is known as the "Toughest Race on Earth", which makes Dee Dee Jonrowe on of the toughest racers on earth. I had heard about the race, but never seen it, until it was on the Discovery Channel... I'm hooked. I'm especially hooked on this little woman, wearing pink, and cooing to her dogs! I've never seen anything like it! She's my new idol, and I'm her biggest fan... what an inspiration she is.

You can’t compare it to any other competitive event in the world! A race over 1150 miles of the roughest, most beautiful terrain Mother Nature has to offer. She throws jagged mountain ranges, frozen river, dense forest, desolate tundra and miles of windswept coast at the mushers and their dog teams. Add to that temperatures far below zero, winds that can cause a complete loss of visibility, the hazards of overflow, long hours of darkness and treacherous climbs and side hills, and you have the Iditarod. A race extraordinaire, a race only possible in Alaska.

From Anchorage, in south central Alaska, to Nome on the western Bering Sea coast, each team of 12 to 16 dogs and their musher cover over 1150 miles in 10 to 17 days. In the midst of it for the last 26 years was Dee Dee, and keep watching, she's got a plan for '09, and it just may be a top finish for her.



DeeDee Jonrowe is the foremost female dog musher competing in the world today. She has both the fastest time of any woman in the history of the Iditarod and thirteen top ten finishes in her career. Her second place finish in 1998 was the fifth fastest Iditarod time ever recorded at that point. In addition to the Iditarod, DeeDee has competed and won most major dog sledding races throughout her career, including the Copper Basin 300, Klondike 300 and the John Bear grease sled dog marathon.

DeeDee ran her first Iditarod in 1980 and soon undertook the building of her own sled, a comprehensive breeding and training program for her dogs, and a rigorous physical fitness program for herself. The result is that by the time DeeDee and her team undertake the Iditarod in March of each year, they have logged almost 2000 miles of training together.

DeeDee has won numerous awards for the care of her dogs through her career, including the best-cared for team, the best dog care award (given by staff veterinarians), and the dog's best friend award. As her dogs are her top priority, she became a founding member of Mush with PRIDE, which provides responsible information of a dog's environment, exhibiting her commitment to set the standards for all aspects of sled dog care.

Her highly publicized battle with breast cancer that she began in 2002 has seen her become a tireless fundraiser. In 2003 she became any honorary chairperson for the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life, assisting the organization is its fundraising efforts as well. DeeDee's humanitarian efforts have been well-documented, being given the YWCA's "Alaska Woman of Achievement of Award", the most inspirational musher award, and even as the spokesperson for the National Girl Scouts Council and Winter Special Olympics.

DeeDee has been profiled in such media outlets as Sports Illustrated, Redbook, and Outside magazines. She is a published author, and is currently pending another book profiling her comeback from cancer to race again.

If you'd like to learn more about Dee Dee Jonrowe or Sponser her in the 2009 Iditerod, click here .