It's quite a pleasant surprise. If her finish was a surprise, Moderow's had to be a shocker. A veteran junior musher, Moderow had long ago shown himself competent at handling dogs, but he'd never appeared much of a competitor. It probably wasn't quite as funny for other mushers, however, when he passed by. He caught boss Buser on the Bering Sea coast and then out-dueled veteran Iditarod mushers and Quest champs Charlie Boulding of Nenana and Tim Osmar of Ninilchik for 17th.
Boys just wanna have fun.
Ditto for young women. I think I had a pretty fun race. Lew Freedman contributed to this story.