Rookie Iditarod musher gets tangled up

PUNTILLA LAKE, Alaska, March 10 (UPI) -- A 58-year-old rookie musher was in need of rescue Tuesday on a particularly daunting stretch of Alaska's Iditarod sled-dog race, officials said.

Nancy Yoshida of North Dakota was stuck on a series of steep, narrow "steps" on a cliff in the Happy River Gorge, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

In the middle off the night, Yoshida found she couldn't make it past the middle tier of switchbacks because she had lost both runners on her sled, the newspaper said. Her dogs reportedly were either tangled in trees or she had tied them off.

Other mushers said her sled and dogs were blocking the narrow trail, causing problems for competitors behind her.

Race officials planned to haul in a replacement sled by snowmobile.

This is the 37th year for the 1,161-mile race from Willow, just outside Anchorage, to Nome. Sixty-seven teams started the race Saturday.