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The Iditarod is the premier sled-dog racing event in the world today, and arguably the toughest competition on earth. Traversing the rugged beauty of the Alaskan wilderness, the race covers 1,200 miles from Anchorage to Nome. Until now, fans have been frustrated by the lack of a comprehensive resource for the LAST GREAT RACE.
AUTHOR’S BIO
Mary Hood is an award winning writer who has studied and followed the race as a reporter and photographer.
REVIEWS
“This is truly an all-inclusive, encyclopedic work that will be of value for those with only a casual interest in the race right up to someone who plans to compete. I can even imagine a rookie lashing a copy to his or her sled!” (Sam Posey, ABC Wide World of Sports, 1990 Emmy Award Winner)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
“Iditarod Trail” Song
Foreword by Sam Posey
Introduction by Jeff King
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Chapter 1 Iditarod: What and Why
Chapter 2 A Brief History of Mushing
Chapter 3 The Founding Mother and Father
RACE PREPARATION
Chapter 4 A Typical Musher’s Racing Regime
Chapter 5 Prerace Details
Chapter 6 Volunteers and Staff
Chapter 7 Race Rules
IDITAROD DOGS
Chapter 8 Canine Competitors
Chapter 9 Welfare of the Animals
A MUSHER’S GEAR
Chapter 10 Harnesses, Lines, and Sleds
Chapter 11 Clothing
Chapter 12 Food
Chapter 13 Mandatory and Optional Equipment
TRACKING THE IDITAROD
Chapter 14 How to Follow the Race
Chapter 15 Trail Description
OUT ON THE TRAIL
Chapter 16 The Run/Rest Cycle
Chapter 17 The Weather
Chapter 18 Dangers of the Trail
Chapter 19 Strategies and Ploys
Chapter 20 Hallucinations
INSIDE INFORMATION
Chapter 21 Iditarod Traditions
Chapter 22 Trail Trivia
Chapter 23 Controversy
STANDINGS & STATISTICS
Chapter 24 Placement of All Starters, 1973 to 1996
Chapter 25 Iditarod Award Winners, 1973 to 1996
MORE MUSH
Chapter 26 The Iditarod Trail Committee
Hotlines and Catalog
Chapter 27 There’s More to Mushing
Selected Bibliography
Permissions Acknowledgments
Index
About the Author
EXCERPT
Chapter One
Iditarod: What and Why
The Iditarod. The word itself comes from the Indian “Haiditarod,” which means “a far distant place.” More than just a race, the Iditarod is a dream. A journey. A destination. A life-changing experience.
It’s also a multi-million-dollar business. A world-class sporting event. A media blitz. The testing grounds for high-tech racing equipment, scientifically formulated dog food, and ever-improving bloodlines of Iditarod dogs.
The race is run by a core of intensely competitive professionals who seek to secure their share of the purse. The Iditarod, however, may be the only major sporting event in which top contenders regularly sacrifice valuable minutes and even hours to assist an arch-rival who is in trouble, give each other forthright strategic advice, and thereby develop unspoken bonds of camaraderie that transcend the cutthroat atmosphere typical of today’s sports.
A complex mix of tradition and cutting edge, the Iditarod is not easily defined. Here are some of the facts:
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It’s Alaska’s official sled-dog race.
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Congress declared it a national historic trail in 1976.
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The race commemorates the 1925 diphtheria serum run and celebrates the history and spirit of Alaska.
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The mileage is officially given as 1,049 miles (varying year to year, the distance is rounded off to 1,000 miles and Alaska is the forty-ninth state).
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The trail traverses three major geographical divisions—the South Central zone, characterized by dense forests, frozen lakes and bogs, and relatively mild temperatures; the Interior, gained only after crossing the lofty Alaska Range, where temperatures can plummet to -70 degrees F; and finally the Bering Sea coast renowned for its blizzards and the dangers of sea ice.
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Competitors have entered from fourteen countries and seventeen states.
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Once the mushers leave Knik (63 miles into the race’s 1,000+), there are no roads to Nome. Access to this untamed wilderness is only possible by plane, snowmobile, foot or, of course, dog sled!
So, who’s crazy enough to do this? Mushers, age eighteen to eighty-six, whose job descriptions include family physician, public defender, ivory carver, bush pilot, carpenter, professional dog musher, trapper, artist, prospector, air-traffic controller, fisherman, novelist, millionaire stockbroker, goat farmer, guidance counselor, and even the “Maytag Man,” just to name a few.
It truly is a one-of-a-kind event. In his short story “Dogspirit,” award-winning novelist/Iditarod musher Gary Paulsen maintains:
It is wondrously, gloriously, grandly, magnificently and beautifully senseless and crazy and everyone who does it is altered by it, changed permanently and misses it, misses the dogs and the run for the rest of his or her life and can never look at another horizon, sunrise, snowflake, ocean, sky, dog, tree or blade of grass without thinking of the run and comparing it to other things.
Ask “Why?” and you’re likely to get a different answer from every musher. Some view it as a personal challenge, while others seek to make a connection with the past. Dr. Roger Haertel, who completed his first race in 1993, claims that dentistry is easier than running the Iditarod, but somehow not as much fun. Having served as chief pilot of the Iditarod Air Force for many years, Bert Hanson decided to get a ground-level perspective by mushing the trail. Drivers also dedicate their race to causes as diverse as the American Cancer Society, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Prevention of Child Abuse, and Sobriety.
Of course, there is prize money to be had: $50,000 goes to the first-place finisher, and there are several opportunities along the trail to pick up $500 to $3,500 in awards. Most mushers, however, go into debt just to experience the race—the awesome beauty, the freedom, the discovery of self. There seems to be an almost mystical attraction. So, why do it? Why not? The Iditarod. A far distant place. A journey of discovery. The run.
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