Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Snow Trails, Wild Tails! A track and field race through wide-open spaces for the four-legged, gold-medal athletes of the annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race! Mushers and 1,000 dogs dash toward the Bering Sea coast through rugged remote mountain ranges, snow-capped forests, and frozen lakes. Dodging bear, moose and host of other elements – its 1,150 miles of pure adrenaline!
During the race, the action is centered at the Millennium Alaskan Hotel Anchorage - official headquarters of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
If interested in attending the annual Musher's Banquet, find information and tickets from the Iditarod Trail Committee, Inc. at 907-376-5155, X-108.
History
During the gold rush era, the Iditarod National Historic Trail was a supply route to mining camps, trading posts and remote bush areas. Mushers carried out most of the $30 million dollars in gold mined in the interior of Alaska. The trail became a lifeline in 1925 when a diphtheria epidemic hit Nome. Twenty mushers and their doges rushed through sub-zero conditions to deliver serum that saved many lives in isolated Nome.
By the mid 60's, most people in Alaska didn't even know there was an Iditarod Trail or that dog teams had played a very important part in Alaska's early settlement. Dorothy G. Page, a self-made historian, recognized the importance of the Iditarod Trail and the important part it played in Alaska's colorful history.
She presented the possibility of a race over the trail to an enthusiastic Joe Redington, Sr., a musher from the Knik area. Soon an event using part of the trail turned into promoting a long-distance race using this trail to Nome.
Now, the race is an international event. Finishers come from countries all over the world including, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Italy, Japan, Austria, Australia, Sweden and the Soviet Union in addition to mushers from 20 different states.
