Iditarod Musher Says She Was Groped On Course

This has not been a good year for the Iditarod. While our former cover subject, Dallas Seavey, won his third consecutive “Last Great Race On Earth” in a thrilling duel with his dad, Mitch, the dog mushing world’s version of the Super Bowl was also marred by the attack on two mushers that left one dog dead. Now comes a report that an unnamed musher told Alaska State Troopers that she was groped on the race course.

From CBS News:

Alaska State Troopers were looking into the March 13 incident as harassment for now, James Lester said Monday. The 27-year-old rookie musher reported the groping at the checkpoint in the village of Nulato, almost 350 miles from the Nome finish line.

The incident happened a day after a man on a snowmobile intentionally drove into two top Iditarod teams, killing one dog and injuring others, authorities say.

Lester said he has been trying to contact the rookie musher and has not interviewed her yet. The woman, who went on to complete the 1,000-mile race, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment by The Associated Press on Monday.

The AP generally does not name people who may have been a victim of a sex crime.

Lester described the groping as offensive touching on the buttocks.

The Iditarod released a timeline of the incident Friday, saying two men had stopped next to the trail, and the musher thought they wanted to give her a high-five. Race marshal Mark Nordman said in the release that he immediately contacted authorities after a race judge notified him.