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LATEST
Deborah was 78th and the last of the mushers to
cross the finish line (Red Lantern) in the 2008
Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Seventeen musher
scratched and one withdrew. 
She didn't race in 2009.
Bio
Results
2008 Iditarod Ends
With 78 Official Finishers
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Bio
2008 Rookie
Deborah Bicknell, 62, was born in New
Hampshire. She began mushing at the age of 11 and
ran her first race with a family pet, a Saint
Bernard. She determinedly worked her way up through
the junior and adult ranks with the New England and
Lakes Region sled dog clubs, earning two fourth
places and one second place on the three-day open
World Championship Sled Dog Derby in Laconia.
During the winter of 1970, she gained experience
with Earl and Natalie Norris at their kennel in
Willow and placed third in the Willow Winter
Carnival race that year, beaten only by Norris and
George Attla. 1996 was an outstanding year for
Deborah, the first woman to be awarded an
"unlimited team" medal by the International Sled
Dog Racing Association. She was nominated by the
Manchester Union Leader sports writers was one of
the outstanding athletes in the state and was
featured as "musher of the Year" in Team &
Trail. She moved to southeast Alaska in 1981 with
her husband, Sandy, and over the next few years,
she gave up racing in favor a developing a
prosperous boat canvas and upholstering business,
but the dogs were never far from her mind. Since
Southeast is not a favorable area for training sled
dogs, they purchased land in Tagish, YT in the
1990's to maintain and train her team which was
comprised of dogs from family sprint lines and long
distance race kennels. By this time her focus had
turned to distance racing. After getting some mid
distance races under her belt, Deborah's turned to
a new and greater challenge, the 1,000 mile Yukon
Quest. She finished in 21st place out of 29
entrants in her rookie year. In 2006, she and
Sandy, along with her sister-in-law, flew from
checkpoint to checkpoint to observe the teams on
the Iditarod Trail. She told her fellow travelers,
"You have to be nuts to go through what those dogs
and mushers are encountering on the trail." But
after returning to the comforts of home, she
couldn't get the Iditarod out of her mind, and one
day, said to Sandy, "I can do that!" In 2007, she
left the Iditarod start line with the intention of
going to Nome and arriving with a healthy dog team.
She made it to Rainy Pass, 224 miles into the Race
and was stopped by severe winds and sub-zero
temperatures. She was the last team out of the
checkpoint on Wednesday morning, and wasn't heard
from again until a pilot spotted her the following
afternoon at the foot of the Alaska Range. With no
marker to show the correct Dazell Trail to Rohn (it
had blown away), she headed through Ptarmigan Pass,
getting soaked in overflow and spending a "night
out with the dogs." Deborah's survival instincts
pulled her through, but after a night at the Rohn
checkpoint and out of concern for her dogs, that
was the end of her rookie run on the Iditarod
Trail. But as indicated by her entry into the 2008
Race, her desire to reach Nome with a dog team has
not diminished!
Results
2008
Iditarod Ends With 78 Official Finishers
The 2008 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race officially
ended at 8:36 this Evening (Alaska Time) when Auke
Bay Alaska musher Deborah Bicknell (Bib #21) ended
her journey under the Burled Arch in Nome Alaska
with a breathtaking sunset at her back. The 62 year
old musher made the trek from Willow to Nome in 15
days, 5 hours, 36 minutes and 12 seconds.
Bicknell was greeted by a large crowd of well
wishers at the finish line including Loren Prosser
Wells Fargo Bering Sea Community Bank President who
awarded her with the highly coveted Wells Fargo Red
Lantern. Bicknell then ended the 2008 Iditarod
Trail Sled Dog Race by blowing out the Widow's
Lamp, signifying that all mushers and their teams
were safely off the Iditarod Trail.
Tomorrow, (March 18th) the Red Lantern Awards
Banquet will be held in Nome at the Mini Convention
Center beginning at 6:00pm (Alaska Time). The
public is invited to attend.
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