Jamaican musher Newton Marshall was still in shock Wednesday morning over the dramatic rescue the evening before of fellow musher Scott Janssen, who had seriously injured his leg in a fall on the trail. Marshall said when he came upon Janssen's sled and dog team Tuesday night and didn't see a musher, he initially wasn't too concerned, figuring the absent racer was just off checking out the trail or dealing with a dog. That all changed when he heard a cry of "Help!" nearby.
Marshall found Janssen -- popularly known as the "mushing mortician" -- on the ground next to the sled, with his ankle clearly broken. Janssen had also hit his head coming out of Rohn, leaving him disoriented. A post on Janssen's Facebook fan page Wednesday morning said that he had crashed his sled and hit his head on a stump, and that "he laid unconscious for over 2 hrs before coming to."
While he managed to get on his sled and continue, he fell a little further down the trail while attempting to round up one his dogs, Hooper, who had slipped the line. Janssen reportedly broke through ice and slipped after his boots also iced over while trying to round up the dog, and ended up breaking his ankle.
Marshall tried to help carry Janssen back to the sled, but was unable to since Janssen couldn't even balance on the other, non-injured leg. Instead, Marshall ran over to Janssen's sled and pulled out his emergency beacon, handing it to him and telling him to push.
"I had him push it more than a couple times to let them know we really needed them," Marshall said Wednesday.
Marshall then pulled Janssen's sleeping bag and heavy parka off the sled. He helped scoot Janssen over to a patch of grass and off the crunchy ice he had slipped on, and made him a makeshift bed. A few minutes later, the Iditarod Insider crew rode up on snowmachines, taking him to a nearby hunter's cabin as the National Guard approached to rescue him and his dog team.
It wasn't the first time Marshall had helped a fellow musher in distress on the Iditarod Trail. Last year, he reportedly offered assistance to Californian Cindy Abbott, who had injured her leg early in the race. Then, Marshall actually lost a dog on the trail and was forced to scratch from the race in Nikolai after he stopped to help Anchorage pediatric dentist Christine Roalofs repair a badly damaged sled. At some point, Roalofs "stopped short" in front of Marshall, causing his team to ball up and tangle, and his dog May got loose. She was recovered a week later, 150 miles away.
The post on Janssen's page showed Janssen with his right leg in a walking boot. He also reportedly had a concussion. According to the post, he returned home around 5:30 a.m. Wednesday.