Race Across Alaska: First Woman to Win the Iditarod Tells Her Story

Books on dog sledding are my favorite type of dog book. This book seems familiar, like I might have read this book a long time ago before I started posting reviews, or just that I have read a lot of similar type books on the sled dog races, but I still enjoy the journey every step of the way to the finish line.

This book is about a winner with Libby doing all the right things to win in a way that feels like it is just as a matter of course. You can tell that it is the relationship she has with the dogs and how carefully she tends to them that make a major difference. An interesting contrast from what you would read about people who don’t fare so well in the same race like in the book - ‘MY LEAD DOG WAS A LESBIAN: MUSHING ACROSS show more ALASKA IN THE IDITAROD—THE WORLD’S MOST GRUELING RACE’ by BRIAN PATRICK O’DONOGHUE. Unlike what sometimes happens with other racers, Libby’s dogs never quit on her.

Here are a few samples that reflect aspects I loved about the book:

‘The size of the land can be humbling. It puts my human existence into perspective, not in the sense of feeling like a bug on the windshield of life, but more a feeling of belonging to something too big to comprehend. The times when I have a view of the broad vistas sometimes make me feel as big as the land. I love the size of the land, how it rolls on and on, untamed and for the most part untouched.’

‘In my headlamp the dogs looked like ghosts, glistening with frost and half obscured in a cloud of their own frozen breaths. The clinking of the hardware on the collars and harnesses made music in the quite of the night.’

‘A part of me wanted life to be like this always: just me and my dogs, alone in this vast, silent country, our goals always sure, living out of the sled day after day. This was the most seductive feature of the Iditarod, the reason I would come back time and time again, despite all the suffering that went along with it: the intimacy I had with those fine animals… and with the magnificent land of the Alaska.’

The big moment is when a huge blizzard hits and Libby is faced a choice to go out or not:

‘Leaving the checkpoint was a huge gamble. Was the chance of losing my life a fair gamble? I allowed a part of myself to swear I’d never take any chance that foolish, while the rest of me proceeded to make plans.’

What another racer says helps make up her mind:

“What are you doing?” he asked. “If it’s anything like what I just came through, it’s impossible.”
That set me. “Impossible?” This was the whole point of all the work and energy I’d put into the past five years. Everything aimed toward one thing: Iditarod. I lifted the snow hook.
“Okay, gang. Let’s go.”

History and even the title of the book tells us how that choice works out for her. Just the part of her navigating and surviving the blizzard makes this a compelling read.

The book is written in double column format, with the center column filled up with history or specific details of the race and other aspects. At first glance I found it awkward, but quickly thought it was a good idea as it didn’t slow down the story by inserting text within the main body of the story itself. I found I could read the main story until I felt like stopping, then go back and pick up the other details.

The Chapters are titled after the segment of the race the chapter covers. I like that organization and someday it might be fun to go to a specific section as it is covered in several Iditarod books to examine different riders experience in the same place.

I also like her thoughts on being the first woman to win the Iditarod:

‘I had never thought much about being the first woman to win the race. I thought of myself as just a sled dog racer, not a woman sled dog racer. But there was no denying that if my winning encouraged other women not to underestimate themselves, then I was happy to have helped.’

So, another great dog sledding book. Not my favorite of this type, but still a very good book. show less

Books on dog sledding are my favorite type of dog book. This book seems familiar, like I might have read this book a long time ago before I started posting reviews, or just that I have read a lot of similar type books on the sled dog races, but I still enjoy the journey every step of the way to the finish line.

This book is about a winner with Libby doing all the right things to win in a way that feels like it is just as a matter of course. You can tell that it is the relationship she has with the dogs and how carefully she tends to them that make a major difference. An interesting contrast from what you would read about people who don’t fare so well in the same race like in the book - ‘MY LEAD DOG WAS A LESBIAN: MUSHING ACROSS show more ALASKA IN THE IDITAROD—THE WORLD’S MOST GRUELING RACE’ by BRIAN PATRICK O’DONOGHUE. Unlike what sometimes happens with other racers, Libby’s dogs never quit on her.

Here are a few samples that reflect aspects I loved about the book:

‘The size of the land can be humbling. It puts my human existence into perspective, not in the sense of feeling like a bug on the windshield of life, but more a feeling of belonging to something too big to comprehend. The times when I have a view of the broad vistas sometimes make me feel as big as the land. I love the size of the land, how it rolls on and on, untamed and for the most part untouched.’

‘In my headlamp the dogs looked like ghosts, glistening with frost and half obscured in a cloud of their own frozen breaths. The clinking of the hardware on the collars and harnesses made music in the quite of the night.’

‘A part of me wanted life to be like this always: just me and my dogs, alone in this vast, silent country, our goals always sure, living out of the sled day after day. This was the most seductive feature of the Iditarod, the reason I would come back time and time again, despite all the suffering that went along with it: the intimacy I had with those fine animals… and with the magnificent land of the Alaska.’

The big moment is when a huge blizzard hits and Libby is faced a choice to go out or not:

‘Leaving the checkpoint was a huge gamble. Was the chance of losing my life a fair gamble? I allowed a part of myself to swear I’d never take any chance that foolish, while the rest of me proceeded to make plans.’

What another racer says helps make up her mind:

“What are you doing?” he asked. “If it’s anything like what I just came through, it’s impossible.”
That set me. “Impossible?” This was the whole point of all the work and energy I’d put into the past five years. Everything aimed toward one thing: Iditarod. I lifted the snow hook.
“Okay, gang. Let’s go.”

History and even the title of the book tells us how that choice works out for her. Just the part of her navigating and surviving the blizzard makes this a compelling read.

The book is written in double column format, with the center column filled up with history or specific details of the race and other aspects. At first glance I found it awkward, but quickly thought it was a good idea as it didn’t slow down the story by inserting text within the main body of the story itself. I found I could read the main story until I felt like stopping, then go back and pick up the other details.

The Chapters are titled after the segment of the race the chapter covers. I like that organization and someday it might be fun to go to a specific section as it is covered in several Iditarod books to examine different riders experience in the same place.

I also like her thoughts on being the first woman to win the Iditarod:

‘I had never thought much about being the first woman to win the race. I thought of myself as just a sled dog racer, not a woman sled dog racer. But there was no denying that if my winning encouraged other women not to underestimate themselves, then I was happy to have helped.’

So, another great dog sledding book. Not my favorite of this type, but still a very good book. show less

I have followed and have read a good number of books about the Iditarod since I first became interested around 1989, and went up to watch in 1995. This is certainly one the very best first-person accounts, and gives a flavor for how incredibly difficult this race is. Although Libby Riddle was the first woman to win the Iditarod she is very humble in her writing, and tells stories about her dogs and about the challenges faced with temperatures at -60 degree F (-51 C). Self-transplanted from Wisconsin, she has come to embody the Alaskan spirit, and her love of the wilderness is apparent. Because it is organized as she travels from checkpoint to checkpoint, one gets the feeling of traveling along with her, and of getting to know the people show more who help maintain the checkpoints and trail. All in all an excellent book if you want to have a better understanding of the Iditarod, or of the nature of people in Alaska. show less

First of all, I'm not the Tim Jones who co-wrote this book - though I would have enjoyed co-writing it, because it's a fascinating story of courage, endurance and bravery. Those three qualities apply to everyone who takes part in this dog-sled race of over 1000 miles through the late Alaskan winter, but in particular, in this retelling of Libby Riddles' 1985 race victory, it applies to her decision to press on towards the finish line in a storm that kept every other competitor hunkered down. It could have all gone horribly wrong - but it didn't, thanks to Libby Riddles' preparation and her superb dog team.

The one thing that disappointed me about the book is that, while it does a great job of covering the race itself, there is little show more coverage of the lead-up to it and no coverage at all of the aftermath, in which Riddles, as the first woman to win the race, shot to fame. I would loved to have heard what effect this had on her life, but there are only the barest hints in this book. Still, as a record of one of the world's most demanding sporting events, this ranks very highly. show less

While I thought the subject of the book (as the title indicates, it is the story of the first woman to win the Iditarod) was absolutely fascinating, the prose was so dry that I couldn't really enjoy it. Informative, but not particularly exciting.