Anna Berington finished Alaska's grueling Iditarod sled dog race 43 seconds ahead of her sister, and that was fitting, because she's been five minutes behind her twin since birth.
Growing up in northern Wisconsin, Anna and Kristy Berington underwent the perfect training for the world's premier sled dog race. Brutal cold, piles of snow and howling winds are just another winter day for folks in Port Wing on the frigid shore of Lake Superior.
They're the only twins and only sisters to compete in the historic 1,100-mile Iditarod. Last year, Kristy's third Iditarod and Anna's first, the identical twins held hands as they crossed the finish line in Nome. But because Anna had a longer lead rope on her dogs, she was recorded as crossing first.
Anna finished in 43rd place with a time of 12 days, 2 hours, 16 minutes and 30 seconds while Kristy was 44th out of 66 entrants.
"We enjoy racing together. Kristy has more experience than me and she's able to do better," Anna Berington, 28, said in a recent phone interview as she cut beef fat to feed to her dogs.
"We're friends more than competitors, but we're also competitive by nature. I think Kristy expects to beat me, which is OK because she has a five-minute head start on me in life."
They're racing in this year's Iditarod, which is scheduled to start March 2.
Their mother, Janet Berington, is a bit astonished at her daughters' choice of career path, but then they've been a surprise since they were born. Janet Berington didn't know she was pregnant with twins. The family didn't have health insurance, and ultrasounds were not as common in 1984. The twins' heartbeats were in sync and the doctor only heard one.
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