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LATEST
Mellissa is a musher in the 2011
Iditarod.
Owens, the 2nd youngest woman
ever, finished 30th of 95 mushers and took home
$1,800 in the 2008 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
She was the 2nd rookie to cross the line. She
scratched in 2009.
Bio
Results
Melissa Owens makes
it home
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Contact: www.owlcreekkennels.com
Snippets
Melissa Owens is the 2nd youngest woman to complete
the Iditarod and finished 30th. She’s older by
five days than Ellie Claus, who ran as a rookie in
2004, finishing 45th. Owens’ birthday is Feb.
18 and Claus was born on Feb. 23.
Melissa Owens, 19, was born in Nome and has
spent her whole life there. She is still a high
school student, involved in AE21, a distance
learning program. Melissa says that "mushing is in
my blood." She said she began mushing "as soon as I
could stand on the runners. My family had a team
and my dad ran Iditarod the year I was born." She
completed four Jr. Iditarod races and was the 2005
champion. She raises and trains most of her own
dogs. She says, "I love racing and loved my trip
last year. I love working with my dogs and am
really excited about the team this year. They are
some really good athletes. Melissa's hobbies are
gymnastics, dogs and mushing.
Bio
2008 Rookie
Melissa Owens will be one of
the youngest to run the Iditarod and the 2nd
youngest girl. She won’t turn 18 until
February 18. She was born and raised in Nome where
she has lived her whole life. She is still a high
school student, involved in AE21, a distance
learning program. Melissa says that “mushing
is in my blood.” When she was an infant, her
dad, Michael, took her on stage with him to draw
his starting number and now, 18 years later she
will be drawing her own starting number. She has
completed four Jr. Iditarod races and was the 2005
champion. She has also run the Jr. Quest, the Tug
Bar and the Don Bowers 200 as well as Nome Kennel
Club races. She raises and trains most of her own
dogs and has worked closely with DeeDee Jonrowe the
last several years. She has also worked with the
Willis family for many years. Melissa’s
hobbies are school, gymnastics, hiking and
dogs.
Results
Owens, the 2nd youngest woman
ever, finished 30th of 95 mushers and took home
$1,800 in the 2008 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
She was the 2nd rookie to cross the line.
Melissa Owens makes it
home
The youngest woman ever to run the Iditarod crossed
the finish line with her leaders this morning to
the cheers of a large crowd gathered around the
burled arch that marks the end of the race. Making
it even more special for 18-year-old Melissa Owens,
she was home.
Owens lives in Nome, growing up here in a dog
mushing family. Her father, Mike, ran the race
twice when Melissa was still in diapers and has
been involved with the race since, whether
it’s helping coordinate support in Nome or,
currently, as a board member. “She is an
Iditarod kid,” Mike Owens said.
“It is an emotional time for me because
this truly is a dream come true,” he added, a
faraway look in his eye as he sat on the snow with
his back against a support beam of the burled arch.
“She has lived a dream. She probably wishes
the finish line was in Teller.” (Teller is
about 75 miles away.)
Owens was the 30th musher out of a record field
of 95 who started this year’s race, putting
her in the last paying position. She’ll get a
trophy in addition to the coveted finisher’s
belt buckle and a little over $1,000 in prize
money.
The Iditarod has been a dream of Owens since she
was a little girl. She couldn’t wait until her
14th birthday so that she could run the Junior
Iditarod, a race she won two years ago. Owens,
known for being unflappable and determined (like a
lot of Nome’s children), needed all of her
character to deal with the journey that led her
from Willow across 1,000 miles of remote Alaska
back to her home town.
She grabbed her lead dogs’ tug lines the
final half mile through town because the dogs were
a little bewildered by the cars, people and
buildings after going for weeks seeing only
country. “They saw vehicles and thought,
‘Oh we’ll sleep,’ or ‘maybe
they have food,’ ” she said at the finish
line.
Asked if this will be an annual event for her,
Owens, replied, “We’ll see.” It
usually takes a little recovery time before mushers
find themselves unconsciously planning for the next
year’s race.
Source: iditarodblogs.com/news/2008/03/13/melissa-owens-makes-it-home
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