Athletes - Rachael Scdoris

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	Athletes - Rachael Scdoris

Rachael Scdoris (born February 1, 1985 in Bend, Oregon) is an American dog musher and cross country runner who became the first legally blind person to compete in the 1,049+ mile (1,600 km) Iditarod dog sled race across the U.S. state of Alaska.

Scdoris was born with congenital achromatopsia, an uncorrectable visual disorder. Her vision is 20/200, and she is color blind.

In 1997, Scdoris competed her first dog sled race, and placed 4th in the Frog Lake Race, and later won several local short-distance races. In 2001, she competed in the 500 mile (805 km) International Pedigree Stage Stop Sled Dog Race, and became the first blind person and the youngest musher to complete an event of that distance. Rachael carried the Olympic Torch for the 2002 Winter Games.

In 2003, the Iditarod Trail Committee approved her request under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 for special accommodations to compete in the much longer and more rigorous Iditarod. Scdoris completed the qualifying races in 2004, placing 11th in the 350-mile (563 km) Race to the Sky in Montana, and 6th in the 400-mile (644 km) John Beargrease Mid-Distance Marathon in Minnesota.

On March 5 she started the 2005 Iditarod in Anchorage, Alaska, with "visual interpreter" Paul Ellering, who warned her of trail conditions by radio or shouting. The two-way radios broke several times during the race during crashes, which are relatively common especially among rookies. "I had a nice little encounter with a tree... the tree won".

Rachael is competing in the 2006 Iditarod.

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