Rachael Scdoris /səˈdɔərɪs/ (born February 1, 1985, in

Bend, Oregon Bend is a city in and the county seat of Deschutes County, Oregon, United States. It is the principal city of the Bend Metropolitan Statistical Area. Bend is Central Oregon's largest city, with a population of 99,178 at the time of the 2020 U.S ...

) 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 territorie ...

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 ...

and

cross country runner Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open coun ...

who in 2006 became the first legally blind person to complete the 1,049+ mile ( 1,600 km) Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race across the U.S. state of

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., ...

. Scdoris had her best result in the 2009 Iditarod, taking the Southern route for the first time. Visually guided by Tim Osmar, making his first re-entry into the race since a catastrophic ankle injury incurred while protecting his home from a wildfire in 2007, Scdoris came in 45th, beating her previous best of 57th.

Biography

Scdoris was born with

congenital A birth defect, also known as a congenital disorder, is an abnormal condition that is present at birth regardless of its cause. Birth defects may result in disabilities that may be physical, intellectual, or developmental. The disabilities can ...

achromatopsia, an uncorrectable visual disorder. Her vision is 20/200, and she is totally

color blind Color blindness or color vision deficiency (CVD) is the decreased ability to see color or differences in color. It can impair tasks such as selecting ripe fruit, choosing clothing, and reading traffic lights. Color blindness may make some aca ...

. In 1997, Scdoris competed her first dog sled race, and placed 4th in the Frog Lake Race, and later won several local short-distance races. In 2001, she competed in the 500 mile ( 805 km) International Pedigree Stage Stop Sled Dog Race, and became the first legally blind person and the youngest musher to complete an event of that distance. Rachael carried the Olympic Torch for the 2002 Winter Games. In 2003, the Iditarod Trail Committee approved her request under the

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 19 ...

for special accommodations to compete in the much longer and more rigorous Iditarod. Scdoris completed the qualifying races in 2004, placing 11th in the 350-mile (563 km) Race to the Sky in

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

, and 6th in the 400-mile (644 km) John Beargrease Mid-Distance Marathon in

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. On March 5 she started the 2005 Iditarod in Anchorage, Alaska, with "visual interpreter" Paul Ellering, who warned her of trail conditions by

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

or shouting. The two-way radios broke several times during the race during crashes, which are relatively common especially among rookies. "I had a nice little encounter with a tree... the tree won"."Person of the Week: Rachael Scdoris". (March 11, 2005). ''ABC News''
Retrieved March 11, 2006 from ABC News
She eventually had to quit the race because her dogs showed signs of sickness. In the

2006 Iditarod The ceremonial start of the 34th annual (XXXIV) Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race across the U.S. state of Alaska began amidst the crowds of Anchorage on March 4, 2006, and the start of the competitive race, or "restart", began the next day in Willow. ...

, Rachael Scdoris fell asleep while mushing and became separated from Tim Osmar, her visual guide. She awoke in a place that had no tracks from other dog teams, which meant that her dogs had no scent to follow. Scdoris guided her team over

jumble ice {{Short description, Irregular jagged ice formed over water Jumble ice is a phenomenon that occurs when ice atop a river or other flowing body of water fractures due to the different flow rates beneath the ice. On a lake, pond, or other stationary b ...

and open leads into the Koyuk checkpoint: "Scdoris said she had fallen asleep on the sled, as many mushers do, and veered off the trail. 'It was so flat and so early in the morning, it was hard not to doze,' Scdoris said. 'I woke up in jumbled ice and no other dog tracks.' As it turned out, Scdoris was close enough to Koyuk to make out the lights of the village and guide her dog team there." - Jeannette J. Lee, Associated Press, March 19, 2006

Surname

Scdoris is descended from people named Saadoris, but somehow a typo crept into the official spelling of the name.

References

External links

Current position from the Official Iditarod site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scdoris, Rachael 1985 births American dog mushers American sportswomen American blind people Sportswomen with disabilities Living people Sportspeople from Bend, Oregon 21st-century American women

Biography

Surname

References

Further reading

External links