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 Rookie contestant Mary Helwig and her team of 11 dogs crossed
under the famed burled arch in Nome at 11:51 p.m. on Saturday before
a cheering crowd, organizers wrote on the race's website on Sunday.
The finish earned her the so-called Red Lantern in recognition of
her perseverance.
She finished about five days behind first-place finisher Dallas
Seavey, who won his third straight title on Tuesday in the nearly
1,000-mile (1,600-km) marathon across the state's frozen wilderness.
Now in its 44th year, the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race commemorates
a 1925 rescue mission that delivered diphtheria serum by sled-dog
relay to the western coastal community of Nome on the Bering Sea.
Mushers in this year's race, which began on March 6 in a town north
of Anchorage, had to battle more than just the elements.
 Third-place finisher Aliy Zirkle said on Thursday she was
"terrified" during what she described as a prolonged attack by a man
on a snowmobile that killed a dog and injured at least three others
in the middle of the race.
Helwig managed to mush on past 14 teams that dropped out of the
race. She ended up in 71st place with a time of 13 days, eight hours
and 51 minutes.
By the time she reached the race checkpoint at Nikolai, about 250
miles (400 km) into the race, Helwig had already grappled with two
of her dogs getting loose, losing the trail, and back-to-back sled
breakdowns, race officials said. She had to finish the race on the
sled of a musher who had dropped out.
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She finished behind Cindy Gallea, 64, of Minnesota.
Helwig plans to return to the village of Unalakleet where she worked
as a youth leader in a church and as Bible camp cook, according to a
biography on the race's website. She is training to be a veterinary
technician.
Helwig, who grew up in Southern California, lost her home and
possessions in a wildfire in Willow, Alaska, last June that
threatened her dogs.
"If I can get myself through this disaster," Helwig told the Alaska
Dispatch News afterward, "I'll feel that much more prepared to
handle the difficulties of the trail."
(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Editing by Frank McGurty
and Peter Cooney)
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