Randy Suits

Libby Did It

Darling Eve, my fearless adventurer,

On 20 March 1985, Libby Riddles, became the first woman to win the Iditarod Sled Dog Race, a grueling 1,049 mile trek across the frozen Alaska wilderness. Born in Madison, Wisconsin, she moved to Alaska on her 17th birthday. She witnessed a dog team  sprint race and fell in love with mushing. She entered the 1980 and 1981 Iditarod and finished 18th and 20th. She decided to breed her own sled dogs and train them. After winning the Iditarod, she decided to live like an Alaskan native for the next 6 years. She wrote three books and is now a professional speaker. Her drive and courage was best demonstrated in her winning 1985 Iditarod when she failed to securely tie her team and they ran away, stranding her on the trail. She chased the sled in vain and another musher stopped and told her he would catch her team and bring it back to them. This is the code of the Alaskan winter wilderness. Mushers who get stranded in the brutal winters die in very short time. When the musher caught and returned her team, Libby decided to continue the race though she was now hopelessly in last place. Her break came when she decided to drive her team into an Alaskan winter storm . Visibility was so poor that she had to depend upon her lead dogs to stay on the trail. The dogs she had personally trained, successfully navigated the storm and gave her the edge she needed to win. All the other mushers had decided to wait out the blizzard. Much of our success in life is knowing who to trust and when to accept help. Like Libby stranded on the trail or driving through a blinding blizzard, we look to our All-Knowing Heavenly Father for guidance and assistance. He never fails! He knows our needs and He always is the solution. ‘Libby did it’ the headline read of the Anchorage Times, but a loving, attentive Heavenly Father provided the vision to see in the blinding storm through the eyes of her lead dogs and she instinctively trusted them. In truth ‘God and Libby did it!’ Let us graciously thank our Holy Heavenly Father for his love and care. We must always be sure to give all the glory to the Most High God who is worthy of praise!

Our love is greater than the Alaskan Iditarod, Kochany