Posted: 3/19/03

Anderson has biggest payday in Iditarod

A dog musher from Fairbanks, AK, who hails from Forest Lake has scored his biggest payday in the worldís premier sled dog race.

Ken Anderson finished fifth among the worldís best mushers last Wednesday during his third try at the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog race. Andersonís fifth-place finish earned a pay check estimated by race officials at $38,857.

The Forest Lake High School graduate completed his third Iditarod in a time of 10 days, six hours, 12 minutes and 17 seconds. He was some 2‡ hours behind fourth place finisher Martin Buser.

Anderson finished 26th as a rookie in 1999 and improved to 18th in 2002 before breaking into the top 10 this year.

Because of poor snow conditions this winter, the race was rerouted and started a day late on March 3 in Fairbanks and covered more than 1000 miles before ending in Nome last week.

Norwegian Robert Sorlie won the 2003 Iditarod and took home the top cash prize of $68,571.
Ramy Brooks, Jeff King and Buser finished second, third and fourth, respectively.

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