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Iditarod musher falls asleep at the reins

By Cox Media Group National Content Desk and Bob D Angelo
By Cox Media Group National Content Desk and Bob D Angelo

RUBY, Alaska — Mushers who compete in the Iditarod race in Alaska usually have to deal with cold weather and occasional storms. Falling asleep while racing, however, is something different.

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Linwood Fiedler's dog team arrived in Ruby without the musher, the Iditarod Insider reported.

"Apparently he fell asleep and fell off his sled," the Insider reported.
“I was fighting, fighting, fighting staying awake,” Fiedler, 63, told KTUU. “And I was doing a pretty good job, and then I lost.”
In a video posted to the Iditarod website, several people in the checkpoint can be seen gathering around the veteran musher’s dogs. "Where's Linwood?" someone asks.
"Now you've seen it all," a camera operator says at one point.
Fiedler arrived at the checkpoint an hour later, a little red-faced.
“From the minute my body left the sled until my face smashed into the snow, I was still asleep,” Fiedler told KTUU. “I was totally asleep.”
Fiedler has finished 18 Iditarod races and finished as high as second in 2001. Despite his snooze, Fiedler is still in the race. He was in 27th place after leaving Ruby at 11:37 a.m. Thursday.

Cox Media Group

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