1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:05,680 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio, 2 00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:10,200 Speaker 1: Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, a 3 00:00:10,280 --> 00:00:13,840 Speaker 1: show that speeds its way through history one day at 4 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:18,000 Speaker 1: a time. I'm Gay Blues Yay, And in this episode, 5 00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:21,320 Speaker 1: we're talking about a milestone in the history of dog 6 00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:24,720 Speaker 1: sled racing, one of the few sports that allows men 7 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:29,160 Speaker 1: and women to compete together. The largest and most prestigious 8 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:34,120 Speaker 1: mushing competition is the Iditarod aka the Last Great Race, 9 00:00:34,520 --> 00:00:38,919 Speaker 1: and in nineteen eighty five, it welcomed its first female champion. 10 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:48,000 Speaker 1: The day was March twentieth, nineteen eighty five, Libby Riddles 11 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:51,800 Speaker 1: became the first woman to win the Iditarod Trail sled 12 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:56,120 Speaker 1: dog race. In addition to the fifty thousand dollars cash 13 00:00:56,160 --> 00:00:59,680 Speaker 1: prize and eternal bragging rights, Riddles also took home the 14 00:00:59,760 --> 00:01:03,640 Speaker 1: less when he Adzapala Humanitarian Award for keeping her team 15 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:07,360 Speaker 1: of sled dogs in peak condition during their grueling eleven 16 00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:12,560 Speaker 1: hundred mile trek through the Alaskan Tundra. Libby Riddles was 17 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:17,000 Speaker 1: born in Madison, Wisconsin, on April first, nineteen fifty six. 18 00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:20,880 Speaker 1: She spent her childhood in Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where she 19 00:01:20,920 --> 00:01:24,560 Speaker 1: developed a passion for nature and wildlife and decided she 20 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:29,679 Speaker 1: wanted some sort of career involving animals. After graduating from 21 00:01:29,760 --> 00:01:33,920 Speaker 1: high school, Riddle's, eager for adventure, moved to Alaska to 22 00:01:33,959 --> 00:01:38,199 Speaker 1: become a homesteader. She helped build her own cabin, learned 23 00:01:38,200 --> 00:01:41,160 Speaker 1: how to moose hunt, and assembled a four dog sled 24 00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:45,160 Speaker 1: team to help get around the frozen landscape. She became 25 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:48,760 Speaker 1: a self taught musher or dog sled driver, and the 26 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:50,840 Speaker 1: more she got the hang of it, the more dogs 27 00:01:50,920 --> 00:01:54,720 Speaker 1: she added to her team. One day, a couple years 28 00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:57,560 Speaker 1: into her time there, a friend suggested that she enter 29 00:01:57,640 --> 00:02:01,919 Speaker 1: a five dog sprint race in Kenai. After handily winning 30 00:02:01,960 --> 00:02:05,760 Speaker 1: the event, Riddles set her sights on the world famous Iditarod. 31 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:10,920 Speaker 1: Founded in nineteen seventy three, the Iditarod Trail Sled dog 32 00:02:11,040 --> 00:02:14,000 Speaker 1: race is a celebration of the dog sled culture and 33 00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:18,600 Speaker 1: history that helped tame the Alaskan frontiers. The race runs 34 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:22,080 Speaker 1: more than one thousand miles from Anchorage to Nome and 35 00:02:22,160 --> 00:02:25,560 Speaker 1: follows a vast network of native trade and travel routes 36 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:29,880 Speaker 1: known as the Iditarod Trail. In the early twentieth century, 37 00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:33,359 Speaker 1: the discovery of gold in the isolated town of Iditarod 38 00:02:33,639 --> 00:02:37,200 Speaker 1: led to a massive influx of miners and settlers from 39 00:02:37,240 --> 00:02:40,720 Speaker 1: all across the United States, and as a result, the 40 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:45,280 Speaker 1: Iditarod Trail was transformed into the region's primary route for 41 00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:50,760 Speaker 1: mail and supplies. Before the advent of snowmobiles, the only 42 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:54,000 Speaker 1: way to navigate the harsh terrain and inclement weather of 43 00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:56,720 Speaker 1: the trail was with a wooden sled and a team 44 00:02:56,800 --> 00:03:00,600 Speaker 1: of trained dogs to pull it. The Iditarod Race was 45 00:03:00,639 --> 00:03:04,200 Speaker 1: created to pay homage to this unusual mode of transportation 46 00:03:04,639 --> 00:03:08,560 Speaker 1: and to its historical importance to the region. But while 47 00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:11,960 Speaker 1: the original mushers only tackled a few dozen miles of 48 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:15,560 Speaker 1: the trail at a time, modern competitors traverse at all 49 00:03:15,720 --> 00:03:19,080 Speaker 1: from one end to the other. It's the ultimate test 50 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:22,360 Speaker 1: of endurance and skill, not only for the twelve to 51 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:25,720 Speaker 1: sixteen dog teams that provide the muscle, but for their 52 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:29,800 Speaker 1: human partners, who must strategically guide the dogs through natural 53 00:03:29,840 --> 00:03:34,040 Speaker 1: hazards and pitfalls, often while braving sub zero temperatures and 54 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:39,080 Speaker 1: deadly blizzards. As a rookie musher, then Libby Riddles had 55 00:03:39,120 --> 00:03:42,040 Speaker 1: a tough road ahead of her. She entered her first 56 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:46,520 Speaker 1: Iditarod in nineteen eighty, just four years after moving to Alaska. 57 00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:50,440 Speaker 1: All things considered, she didn't do half bad, coming in 58 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:53,080 Speaker 1: right in the middle of the pack in eighteenth place 59 00:03:53,160 --> 00:03:56,680 Speaker 1: out of thirty six racers. She was so pleased with 60 00:03:56,760 --> 00:04:00,240 Speaker 1: the outcome that she returned the following year, and although 61 00:04:00,320 --> 00:04:03,520 Speaker 1: she came in twentieth place that time, she also finished 62 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:07,960 Speaker 1: a full two days faster. Hoping to build on that momentum, 63 00:04:08,040 --> 00:04:11,320 Speaker 1: Riddle spent the next four years training for her next run. 64 00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:15,240 Speaker 1: Then in nineteen eighty five, at the age of twenty eight, 65 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:18,400 Speaker 1: she returned to the starting line and anchorage for her 66 00:04:18,520 --> 00:04:22,680 Speaker 1: third I Did a Rod. Nineteen eighty five proved to 67 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:26,800 Speaker 1: be an especially challenging year, with temperatures plunging as low 68 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:30,920 Speaker 1: as the negative fifty degrees fahrenheit at night. On two 69 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:34,719 Speaker 1: different occasions. The weather got so bad that officials halted 70 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:37,320 Speaker 1: the race so that the mushers and their dogs could 71 00:04:37,320 --> 00:04:41,159 Speaker 1: honk her down till the storms let up. Nearly half 72 00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:45,040 Speaker 1: of the sixty four competitors scratched or withdrew from the 73 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:48,400 Speaker 1: race due to health and safety concerns for their teams. 74 00:04:49,320 --> 00:04:52,040 Speaker 1: Libby Riddles was one of the few dozen mushers to 75 00:04:52,080 --> 00:04:55,080 Speaker 1: press on, and she did so, despite getting off to 76 00:04:55,200 --> 00:04:58,919 Speaker 1: a rather rough start during the first hour of the race, 77 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:01,880 Speaker 1: her dogs took a wrong turn and wound up slamming 78 00:05:01,920 --> 00:05:05,040 Speaker 1: the sled into a pile of scrap metal, sending Riddles 79 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:08,640 Speaker 1: hurtling through the air. She landed face down in the 80 00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:11,920 Speaker 1: snow and was dragged behind the sled for several yards 81 00:05:11,960 --> 00:05:16,840 Speaker 1: before her excitable teammates finally stopped running. Once she was 82 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:20,000 Speaker 1: upright and back on board, Riddles and her team worked 83 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:23,800 Speaker 1: their way through hundreds of miles of barren tundra. They 84 00:05:23,839 --> 00:05:28,080 Speaker 1: traveled up and down mountain ranges, across frozen rivers and lakes, 85 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:32,440 Speaker 1: and along the wind swept Alaskan coast. The only thing 86 00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:35,480 Speaker 1: to break up the lonely monotony of the race were 87 00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:39,280 Speaker 1: the scheduled stops at village checkpoints that all competitors were 88 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:43,080 Speaker 1: required to make. At each one, the mushers had to 89 00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:46,040 Speaker 1: show officials that their sleds were stocked with all the 90 00:05:46,200 --> 00:05:50,680 Speaker 1: necessary equipment, including an axe, an arctic sleeping bag, a 91 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:53,599 Speaker 1: pair of snow shoes, a day's supply of food for 92 00:05:53,640 --> 00:05:57,400 Speaker 1: the musher, and enough dog booties for the whole team. 93 00:05:57,839 --> 00:06:01,360 Speaker 1: The other piece of mandatory cargo that must be shown 94 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:05,839 Speaker 1: is a cache of letters or trail mail, a symbolic 95 00:06:05,960 --> 00:06:08,800 Speaker 1: nod to the early days of dog sledding. The mail 96 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:12,400 Speaker 1: is meant to commemorate the sled dog's original job as 97 00:06:12,600 --> 00:06:17,120 Speaker 1: Alaskan mail carriers. It was at one of those checkpoints, 98 00:06:17,200 --> 00:06:19,919 Speaker 1: near the end of the thousand mile race, that Libby 99 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:24,200 Speaker 1: Riddles made a life changing decision. Her fellow competitors had 100 00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:27,359 Speaker 1: decided to wade out a nasty snowstorm at the shock 101 00:06:27,440 --> 00:06:31,440 Speaker 1: Tulik checkpoint, but Riddles was confident that she and her 102 00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:35,760 Speaker 1: team could safely navigate the blinding snow. She decided to 103 00:06:35,800 --> 00:06:39,080 Speaker 1: seize the moment and hit the trail while everyone else rested, 104 00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:43,680 Speaker 1: putting her firmly in the lead. Riddles may have second 105 00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:47,160 Speaker 1: guessed herself later that night, though, when visibility dropped to 106 00:06:47,279 --> 00:06:49,479 Speaker 1: zero and she was forced to sleep out on the 107 00:06:49,520 --> 00:06:53,200 Speaker 1: trail despite the numbing cold, she had to change out 108 00:06:53,240 --> 00:06:55,760 Speaker 1: of her wet clothes to prevent freezing to death while 109 00:06:55,760 --> 00:06:58,400 Speaker 1: she slept, and when she woke up the next morning, 110 00:06:58,600 --> 00:07:00,919 Speaker 1: she discovered that the zipper of if her sleeping bag 111 00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:05,680 Speaker 1: had frozen shut. Thankfully, she was eventually able to work 112 00:07:05,720 --> 00:07:08,799 Speaker 1: it loose when once the storm had cleared, she resumed 113 00:07:08,839 --> 00:07:13,040 Speaker 1: the race still in the lead. Riddles didn't have any 114 00:07:13,080 --> 00:07:16,400 Speaker 1: other setbacks until the last twenty four hours of the race, 115 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:20,440 Speaker 1: when she was only about thirty miles from the finish line. 116 00:07:20,440 --> 00:07:23,440 Speaker 1: Sometime during the night, she and her dogs got turned 117 00:07:23,480 --> 00:07:26,440 Speaker 1: around in a storm and wound up running in circles. 118 00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:29,800 Speaker 1: She eventually caught the mistake when she realized they were 119 00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:33,280 Speaker 1: intersecting with their own tracks, but by that point the 120 00:07:33,360 --> 00:07:36,040 Speaker 1: signs that mark the trail had been buried by snow, 121 00:07:36,360 --> 00:07:39,760 Speaker 1: and she wasn't sure which direction was the right one. 122 00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:43,920 Speaker 1: Thinking on her feet, Riddles scanned the horizon and spotted 123 00:07:43,960 --> 00:07:46,640 Speaker 1: a small group of houses, one of which still had 124 00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:50,000 Speaker 1: a light on. She knocked on the door, explained her 125 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:52,680 Speaker 1: plight to the confused man, who answered it and was 126 00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:56,160 Speaker 1: back on the trail minutes later. She couldn't be sure 127 00:07:56,240 --> 00:07:58,200 Speaker 1: she was still in the lead, so she and the 128 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:02,360 Speaker 1: team pressed on at top speed toward Nome. The final 129 00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:05,160 Speaker 1: push paid off, and they arrived at the finish line 130 00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:09,520 Speaker 1: nearly three hours faster than the second place finisher. It 131 00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:13,840 Speaker 1: had taken Libby Riddles and her dogs eighteen days, twenty minutes, 132 00:08:13,920 --> 00:08:17,800 Speaker 1: and seventeen seconds to complete the Iditarod, and although she 133 00:08:17,960 --> 00:08:20,640 Speaker 1: wasn't the first woman to do so, she was the 134 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:25,280 Speaker 1: first to win the race. Riddles was named nineteen eighty 135 00:08:25,320 --> 00:08:28,440 Speaker 1: five Sportswoman of the Year by the Women's Sports Foundation, 136 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:32,600 Speaker 1: and her two lead dogs, Dugan and Sister, won that 137 00:08:32,720 --> 00:08:38,640 Speaker 1: year's Golden Harness Award for Outstanding Canine Perseverance. Riddles made 138 00:08:38,640 --> 00:08:41,440 Speaker 1: sure the rest of her dogs got their due as well, 139 00:08:41,840 --> 00:08:45,160 Speaker 1: telling the press that her team quote didn't know about 140 00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:47,439 Speaker 1: the fifty thousand dollars at the end of the trail 141 00:08:47,840 --> 00:08:51,840 Speaker 1: or the personal satisfactions I might gain. They performed their 142 00:08:51,920 --> 00:08:55,760 Speaker 1: duties just to please me. They were the real heroes 143 00:08:55,840 --> 00:09:00,959 Speaker 1: of the race. Libby Riddles continued racing for another decade 144 00:09:01,040 --> 00:09:04,280 Speaker 1: or so before turning her attention to breeding and training 145 00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:09,439 Speaker 1: sled dogs. She also wrote an autobiography called Race Across Alaska, 146 00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:13,160 Speaker 1: as well as two children's books, Danger the dog Yard 147 00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:18,319 Speaker 1: Cat and the autobiographical Storm Run. At the time of recording, 148 00:09:18,640 --> 00:09:21,440 Speaker 1: Libby Riddles is one of just two women to ever 149 00:09:21,600 --> 00:09:25,959 Speaker 1: claim first place at the Iditarod. The other is Susan Butcher, 150 00:09:26,320 --> 00:09:29,800 Speaker 1: the first woman with multiple wins, having taken the top 151 00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:33,560 Speaker 1: spot in nineteen eighty six. Eighty seven, eighty eight, and 152 00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:38,640 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety and although Butcher's fourth win was the last 153 00:09:38,640 --> 00:09:41,360 Speaker 1: time to date that a woman has won the race, 154 00:09:41,760 --> 00:09:45,559 Speaker 1: many other female mushers have continued to conquer the Iditarod 155 00:09:45,760 --> 00:09:49,760 Speaker 1: year after year. In twenty twenty four, for instance, for 156 00:09:49,840 --> 00:09:53,040 Speaker 1: the first time ever, four women completed the race in 157 00:09:53,080 --> 00:09:57,440 Speaker 1: the top ten. So, as GNOME radio host Kathy Ravano 158 00:09:57,559 --> 00:10:00,600 Speaker 1: once put it, quote, women of the t Trail have 159 00:10:00,760 --> 00:10:03,439 Speaker 1: not proven that they can run with the big dogs. 160 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:10,320 Speaker 1: They are the big dogs. I'm Gabe blues Yay, and 161 00:10:10,440 --> 00:10:13,840 Speaker 1: hopefully you now know a little more about history today 162 00:10:14,040 --> 00:10:16,840 Speaker 1: than you did yesterday. If you'd like to keep up 163 00:10:16,880 --> 00:10:19,599 Speaker 1: with the show, you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, 164 00:10:19,640 --> 00:10:23,880 Speaker 1: and Instagram at TDI HC Show, and if you have 165 00:10:23,960 --> 00:10:26,800 Speaker 1: any comments or suggestions, feel free to send them my 166 00:10:26,920 --> 00:10:31,679 Speaker 1: way by writing to this Day at iHeartMedia dot com. 167 00:10:31,720 --> 00:10:34,720 Speaker 1: Thanks to Kasby Bias for producing the show, and thanks 168 00:10:34,800 --> 00:10:37,160 Speaker 1: to you for listening. I'll see you back here again 169 00:10:37,200 --> 00:10:52,280 Speaker 1: tomorrow for another day in History Class