On March 20th, 1985, musher Libby Riddles would cement herself in Alaska history when she took first place in the Iditarod dogsled race.

Originally from Madison, Wisconsin, she lived with her parents in St Joseph. Just before her 17th birthday while attending Apollo High School in St. Cloud, she saw her first sprint race and immediately knew she wanted to mush. She would take home her first win in 1978 in the Clines Mini Mart Sprint Race.

She would move to Alaska with her parents, Willard and Mary Riddles,and began racing in the Iditarod, taking 18th in 1980 and 20th in 1981. She decided in order to advance in the race she had to breed her own sleddogs, and so, moved to Shagtoolik. There she worked as fish seller and trained her dogs before moving to Teller.

In Teller, she would meet Joe Garnie. They began breeding and training dogs together there.

On March 20th, 1985, Libby would race in the Iditarod and after 18 days, 20 minutes and 17 seconds on the trail, cross the finish line in Nome.

She effectively broke the ice ceiling, and the next three Iditarods would be won by another woman, Susan Butcher.

In 2007, her Iditarod Trail Race victory was inducted as a “Hall of Fame Moment” into the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame.