DeeDee Ann Jonrowe (née Stout; born December 20, 1953) is an

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territor ...

kennel A kennel is a structure or shelter for dogs. Used in the plural, ''the kennels'', the term means any building, collection of buildings or a property in which dogs are housed, maintained, and (though not in all cases) bred. A kennel can be made o ...

owner and

dog musher Mushing is a sport or transport method powered by dogs. It includes carting, pulka, dog scootering, sled dog racing, skijoring, freighting, and weight pulling. More specifically, it implies the use of one or more dogs to pull a sled, most commo ...

who is a three-time runner up in the

Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, more commonly known as The Iditarod, is an annual long-distance sled dog race run in early March. It travels from Anchorage to Nome, entirely within the US state of Alaska. Mushers and a team of between 12 a ...

, and holds the fastest time ever recorded for a woman. She is a very popular figure in the

sport Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

, and her completion of the 1,049-mile+ (1,600+ km) race in 2003 just three weeks after completing

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemothe ...

for

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or ...

received widespread

publicity In marketing, publicity is the public visibility or awareness for any product, service, person or organization ( company, charity, etc.). It may also refer to the movement of information from its source to the general public, often (but not always ...

History

Jonrowe was born on December 20, 1953, in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its ...

, Germany. Her father, U.S. Army officer Kenneth Oliver Stout, was stationed there at the time. She went to school in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...

, and in 1971 her family moved to

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S ...

where she received a

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

Biological Sciences Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary ...

and Renewable Resources from the

University of Alaska Fairbanks The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF or Alaska) is a public land-grant research university in College, Alaska, a suburb of Fairbanks. It is the flagship campus of the University of Alaska system. UAF was established in 1917 and opened for ...

. In 1977, she married Mike Jonrowe. Jonrowe has also been the spokesperson for the Winter

Special Olympics Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities and physical disabilities, providing year-round training and activities to 5 million participants and Unified Sports partners in 1 ...

, and the National Girl Scouts Council, and was awarded the

Young Women's Christian Association The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...

's Alaska Woman of Achievement Award. She co-wrote the book ''Iditarod Dreams'' about prepping for the 1993 and 1994 Iditarods, with Lew Freedman. Jonrowe lives in

Willow, Alaska Willow is a census-designated place (CDP) in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Located 26 miles northwest from Wasilla along the George Parks Highway, it is part of the Anchorage, Alaska Metropolitan Statistical Area. At t ...

with her husband. She is a kennel owner, and continues racing. By 1979, she had a

with 25 dogs. She is a founder of Mush with P.R.I.D.E. (Providing Responsible Information on a Dog's Environment). She is active in her church. A dog kennel owned by Jonrowe in Willow was destroyed by the 2015 Sockeye fire. Jonrowe also lost her home, several pets and a flock of chickens in the fire. Neither DeeDee Jonrowe or her husband were injured in the fire.

Racing

In 1978, DeeDee Jonrowe competed in her first dog sled race, the Women's Fur Rendezvous World Championship in Anchorage. She has competed in many dog sled races, including the

Copper Basin 300 Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish- ...

(which she won in 2001), the Klondike 300, and the

John Beargrease Dog Sled Race The John Beargrease Sled Dog Race is a dogsled race held along the North Shore of Lake Superior in northeast Minnesota. At 400 miles, it is the longest sled dog race in the lower 48 states. The "Beargrease" is a qualifier for the famed Iditarod ra ...

. Jonrowe competed in her first Iditarod in 1980, and again in 1981, 1983, 1984, and then in every race since 1987 for a total of 23 races and 22 finishes. In 1988, she placed in the top 10 for the first time (9th), and has placed in the top 10 a total of 15 times. While she has never won the race, she was the 2nd-place finisher in three races (1996, 1993, and 1998). Her 1998 finish in second place with a time of 9 days, 8 hours, 26 minutes, and 10 seconds is the fastest time recorded for a woman. She is the only musher who competed in both the Iditarod and the

Alpirod The Alpirod is a defunct sled dog stage race in Southern Europe.Firth, p. 241 Its name comes from a combination of the Alps, where the race took place, and the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, upon which the race was based. The competition consiste ...

for three straight years (1992, 1993, and 1994). She has won a total of USD $335,804. She is most widely known because of the publicity surrounding three setbacks. In 1996, an automobile accident outside

Fairbanks, Alaska Fairbanks is a home rule city and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska and the second largest in the state. The 2020 Census put the po ...

killed her grandmother, and both Jonrowe and her husband were hospitalized. She trained while recovering from her injuries, and placed 4th in the 1997 Iditarod. A more minor incident was a dog mutiny on the

Yukon River The Yukon River ( Gwich'in: ''Ųųg Han'' or ''Yuk Han'', Yup'ik: ''Kuigpak'', Inupiaq: ''Kuukpak'', Deg Xinag: ''Yeqin'', Hän: ''Tth'echù'' or ''Chuu k'onn'', Southern Tutchone: Chu Nìikwän, russian: Юкон, Yukon) is a major watercour ...

in 1999. While racing the Iditarod, her dogs refused to go into a strong head

wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few ...

and she was forced to scratch for the first time. She was forced to scratch in the 2007 Iditarod after suffering from hand and other injuries after sustaining a fall near the Rainy Pass checkpoint. In July 2002, Jonrowe was diagnosed with

. Three weeks after completing

, she competed in the Iditarod, placing 18th. The story was widely publicized, and in 2003 she won the Most Inspirational Musher Award, and was named the honorary chair of the

American Cancer Society The American Cancer Society (ACS) is a nationwide voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer. Established in 1913, the society is organized into six geographical regions of both medical and lay volunteers operating in more tha ...

's Relay for Life. Dog mushing in Alaska can be hazardous. According to ''Women Warriors'' (2004) Jonrowe said, "I've had back surgery, frozen my shoulder, broken my hand…I think I've had every single cold related injury. I haven't had any amputations, but I have had severe

frostbite Frostbite is a skin injury that occurs when exposed to extreme low temperatures, causing the freezing of the skin or other tissues, commonly affecting the fingers, toes, nose, ears, cheeks and chin areas. Most often, frostbite occurs in the ha ...

on my fingers, cheeks and nose. I even frostbit my

cornea The cornea is the transparent front part of the eye that covers the iris, pupil, and anterior chamber. Along with the anterior chamber and lens, the cornea refracts light, accounting for approximately two-thirds of the eye's total optical ...

s some years ago".

References

* Anchorage Daily News (February 24, 2005)
A princess on the runners
* Betty Bailey
Sports hero: DeeDee Jonrowe
''My Hero''. Retrieved March 17, 2005. * Iditarod Musher DeeDee Jonrowe

Retrieved March 17, 2005. * Women Warriors (2004)
DeeDee Jonrowe
Retrieved March 17, 2005.

External links

DeeDee Jonrowe's site

Mush with P.R.I.D.E. site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jonrowe, DeeDee 1953 births Dog mushers from Alaska Living people People from Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska University of Alaska Fairbanks alumni American women writers Sportspeople from Frankfurt 21st-century American women

History

Racing

References

Further reading

External links