Even more than 50 years after her historic ride, Mary Shields was still inspiring the next generation of female mushers.
Shields, the first woman to finish the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, died earlier this week in Fairbanks at age 80.
She was remembered as an amiable Alaskan whose love for her dogs and adventure outpaced her inclination to race.
Shields finished 23rd in the 1974 Iditarod, a spot ahead of Lolly Medley, to secure her spot as the first woman to finish the race.
Emily Robinson, a four-time Junior Iditarod champion, on Wednesday wrote a remembrance of Shields on Facebook.
Robinson said Shields “became my role model instantly” and emphasized that her “life wasn’t defined by being an Iditarod musher, but the adventures she had with her sled dogs meant the world to her.”
Robinson said Shields enjoyed the outdoors, flowers, writing and creating art.
“May your mukluks and beaver mitts stay warm on your final expedition, and destination have warm cozy fire ready to receive you Mary, you were the definition of an adventure musher and I am so grateful to have spent time with you and your dogs,” Robinson said.
Shields arrived in Alaska in 1965 during a break from college and was working for the Camp Fire Girls, according to a post on the Iditarod website. She returned after college and soon became ingrained in the state’s mushing culture.
In 1974, a year after the inaugural running of the Iditarod, Shields entered the race. Her eight-dog team was the smallest in the race and she crossed the finish line in 28 days, 18 hours and 56 minutes.
Rod Perry is an Iditarod and mushing historian who raced in 1974. He ran alongside Shields for a portion of the Iditarod that year and remembered her as being a gracious and well-spoken competitor.
“She was a pretty doggone good traveler and dog woman,” he said. “I just was always impressed with her and I was so glad that she was the one that came in and became the first woman.”
While not everyone was confident in her ability to finish, Shields previously remembered being buoyed by women along the trail during the ‘74 race.
“I learned men were betting on which checkpoint the women would drop out at, and every time we left (a checkpoint), there were women raking in money,” she said. “Those women were on my sled, too. I had to keep going for them.”
Bob Eley worked at the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner as a sports writer and sports editor from 1979 to 2013. He also operates the Fairbanks Community and Dog Mushing Museum and became friends with Shields over the years.
“She was never in a race to win,” Eley said. “She was in it because she was an adventurer, not a competitor. She was in it to see what her dogs could do.”
While she wasn’t concerned with finishing position, during that 1974 race Eley said she was deeply motivated to finish.
“At that time, she was just determined to get it done,” Eley said. “Whether she finished ahead of Lolly or not, I don’t know if that was really what mattered. But it mattered more to her to be able to finish and show that women can do those type of things.”
While that was her only finish at the Iditarod, she continued to mush competitively in distance races over the next 10 to 15 years. She raced the Yukon Quest three times and ran the 1,200-mile Hope Race from Alaska to Siberia.
Shields maintained a kennel and gave personalized tours, complete with treats for tour groups. Eley said while she only had a few dogs in her later years, she continued to host visitors.
Shields authored a number of books and was featured in the documentary “Season of the Sled Dog.”
Eley said that when he would visit Shields, she always had a joke and would ask visitors to sing a song with her.
“The last time I was there, she started out with a joke and we finished singing a song together,” he said. “It was kind of cool. It seems kind of corny, but it was totally Mary.”