A woman has not won the Iditarod since 1990. Could this be the year?

Their similarity is that they share the same drive that cannot be taught. As Iditarod competitors, they are the athlete, coach, brains, strength and the dreamer. In a sport defined by mental toughness, many are on equal footing to cross the finish line first.

It’s now been 32 years since the famed Susan Butcher won her fourth Iditarod in 1990, and a woman hasn’t won the Iditarod since. But many have come close.

Aliy Zirkle took home second place three times in a row from 2012 to 2014. She placed in the top 10 seven times after competing in the Iditarod for 20 years before retiring in 2021.

Jessie Royer placed in the top 10 eight times, with third place finishes in 2019 and 2020. In her 2001 Iditarod debut, she placed 14th — earning Rookie of the Year — and went on to complete 16 Iditarods in total. She was supposed to compete in the 2022 race but withdrew this year.

DeeDee Johnrowe is a 36-time competitor who placed second twice and ranked in the top 10 16 times. In 2003, she crossed the finish line just three weeks after completing chemotherapy for breast cancer.

Before the 50th anniversary of the 1,049-mile race from Anchorage to Nome, we spotlight some of the remarkable women of all ages and experience levels competing in this year’s “Last Great Race.”

Paige Drobny, Bib Number 5

Paige Drobny is fourth in line to depart from Anchorage. She’s competed in seven Iditarods, placing seventh in 2019 and 2020. In 2019, she earned the Iditarod award for the most improved musher.

Drobny has a bachelor’s degree in biology from Virginia Tech and received her master’s in fisheries oceanography from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She recently received another master’s degree in business to prepare for the opening of her and her husband Cody’s new high-end lodge.

Because of Drobny’s education, she looks at the Iditarod through a different lens.

Drobny said that the future of the Iditarod might be challenged by climate change, which is causing winters to shorten and ice to melt.

“I work in the villages of salmon,” Drobny said. “The salmon population has been crashing all around the state, and people can’t feed their dogs. … Ice isn’t as solid and stable as it used to be. People can’t really travel on the rivers like they used to.”

While Drobny said she would like to win the Iditarod, it’s not her driving force.

“If the races were to end tomorrow we would still be doing what we’re doing,” Drobny said. “We’re in it because we love the lifestyle that we have with the dogs.”

Julie Ahnen, Bib Number 29

Julie Ahnen, 26, is competing in her first solo Iditarod after working on competitive musher and four-time Iditarod finisher Jessie Holmes’ team for the past four years.

Ahnen hails from Michigan’s upper peninsula. Following her college graduation, she began work as a nurse, but soon yearned for more. Ahnen quit her job, sold her apartment and went backpacking in the Northwest region for six months. She told herself it would be temporary, but when the opportunity to assist sprint mushers in Canada came along, Ahnen couldn’t turn it down.

Ahnen spent six months in Canada before she decided to move to Alaska to work with distance mushers. Four years later, she’s created a new life in Alaska that consists of mushing in the winter and fighting wildland fires in the summer.

Ahnen said that she doesn’t regret her decision to quit nursing because it allowed her to realize new passions.

“If you’re sick of your job and you’re sick of your life just leave,” Ahnen said. “I think it’s important to take risks and it’s definitely changed me for the better.”

Lisbet Norris, Bib Number 43

Lisbet Norris is competing in her fourth Iditarod after taking five years off to grow her dog sledding business, Arctic Dog Adventure Co. She stands out because she is leading the only team of Siberian Huskies in the 2022 race, a breed that has a reputation for being slow or substandard sled dogs.

Norris grew up idolizing the Iditarod. Her grandfather ran the Iditarod, her mom was the first woman from Europe to run the Iditarod, and she received her kindergarten education from four-time Iditarod champion Martin Buser’s wife. She volunteered for the race from the time she was a teenager through her university graduation.

Norris’ family has spent the past 70 years raising and training Siberian huskies. Their mission is to “preserve and promote” the appearance of Siberian huskies as sled dogs. Norris said this comes with pressure to set the standard for the breed.

“If my dogs don’t perform that well, folks will try to chalk that up — not to a lack of preparation and training on my part — but just to the dogs that they are,” Norris said. “It’s kind of sad and frustrating.”

Although these thoughts weigh heavily on Norris in anticipation of Sunday’s race, she’s determined to compartmentalize the pressure and enjoy the challenge with her dogs.

“The fact that we’re still able to participate at this elite level of competition and adventure, I think I am proud of that,” Norris said.

Mille Porsild, Bib Number 33

Many eyes will be following Mille Porsild on Sunday. She placed fifth in 2021 and won Rookie of the Year after her first race in 2020. Porsild was also awarded the Leonhard Seppala Humanitarian Award in 2021, applauding her stellar treatment of the dogs.

Porsild laughed when asked about her hometown in Denmark, because of its lack of snow. Her interest in dog mushing grew from the stories her grandfather told in her parent’s basement when she was a young girl. They sat there surrounded by artifacts from his childhood as he explained his own father’s experiences starting the first Arctic Research Station in the world in Greenland.

Porsild spent 18 years documenting her team’s two- to six-month expeditions online. She likes to think she went live before “going live” was even a term. She’d orchestrate all the media for her teammates, most of which were male. When her female employees told her they wanted to see more of her, she didn’t want to hear it.

“There shouldn’t be a particular focus on me,” Porsild said. “Because we want to show them the quality, not that you need to show me because I’m a woman.”

At 48 years old, her mindset has started to shift. Porsild said that she now recognizes that there is a space and need to showcase women in the sport.

“Where women still have a challenge compared to men in this sport is for women to actually feel and believe that they’re equals,” Porsild said. “They don’t necessarily believe that they’re top competitors. They think that somebody like Aliy Zirkle or these other girls are outliers — and they’re not.”

KattiJo Deeter, Bib Number 19

KattiJo Deeter is one of the eager rookies embarking on her first 1,049 mile journey across Alaska. In addition to owning and operating Alaskan tour experience Black Spruce Dog Sledding, Deeter has helped her husband, Jeff, train for the Iditarod every year since 2018.

Deeter arrived in Fairbanks in 2010 after taking a summer job working with sled dogs. From northern Wisconsin, she had always wanted to go to Alaska and, although the premise of working with sled dogs in the summer confused her, it had been on her bucket list.

While she was in Alaska, Deeter met Jeff, who asked if she’d like to stay the winter to learn dog sledding in the snow with him. She’s been there ever since.

After four years of training with Jeff, Deeter gained knowledge, experience and confidence. She got tired of her own home trails and grew envious of the beautiful things Jeff was seeing along the Iditarod route. She knew she had to see it herself.

“I was like, Man, I have to do this before climate change melts all the snow and we can’t do this anymore,” recalled Deeter. “It’s kind of like now or never. I feel like it’s so special, but it’s not going to be around forever.”