The Iditarod
The History of the Iditarod
Originally the Iditarod trail was a mailing route. Small villages in the godforsaken wilderness were resupplied by dogteam. Seward was the official start of the trail. It was the last harbor in Alaska free of ice in the wintertime. That’s where mail and supplies for the interior arrived. From there on it was transported by a relay of mushers to the interior. They fierced the most brutal weather conditions to deliver letters and warm to the hearts of those living there, bringing some light in dark times.
Nome was one of those remote villages, high up North at the coasts of the Bering Sea. It was founded during a mad goldrush at the end of the nineteenth century. In 1925 a diphtheria outbreak threatened the children of Nome. They did not have the medicines to cure their offspring from suffocation. Neither plains, nor boats or snowmachines could bring it to them. In order to save the village a relay of mushers used the Iditarod trail. They braved the most cruel conditions, icy blizzards and temperatures down to -50. The antiserum made it safely giving the dogs a hero-status.
Over the years people lost their interest in mushing. Airplanes and snow mobiles made the need for land travel by dogteam less. Some people regretted this. They wanted to honour the glorious days of mushing, of the bond between man and dog and their important role in Alaskan history. Dorothy Page, chairman of the Wasilla-Knik Centennial and Joe Redington, Sr., a musher from the Knik area took the lead. They organized the first Iditarod sleddograce in 1973. Twenty dogs, one musher and 1049 miles of frozen nature. Back in the day there were only a few checkpoints and there hardly was a trail at all. Twenty days later the first musher arrived in Nome. It took the last musher thirty-two days to finish.
The Iditarod Today
Meanwhile the Iditarod has become Alaska’s mayor sporting event and receives worldwide attention. National television stations in the US report live on this event. Winners become legends.
The first Saturday of March about 85 teams gather in downtown Anchorage. There, the ceremonial start takes place: sponsors and fans are introduced to all competing teams. In Eagle River the dogs are loaded into dog trucks and taken home for the night. The restart is in Wasilla the next day.
Nowadays mushers take off with 16-dog teams and pass through 26 checkpoints along the way, about 20 to 100 miles apart. Mushers fly their stuff ahead to these checkpoints and restock every time. Tired dogs can be dropped in those checkpoints where they get the best vet care. Afterwards they are flown back to Anchorage. On average mushers will run for six hours and rest for six hours. Unlike Formula 1-races the musher doesn’t have a pitstop crew. You have to do everything yourself: provide your dogs with nice straw to sleep on, give them a nice, hot meal, take off their booties, take care off their feet and muscles etc… The more efficient your system is the more you sleep.
A few days before the race the “Trailbreakers” mark the trail. This team of snowmachiners put up wooden markers with reflectors, about 100 yards apart. Depending on weather conditions parts of this trail will disappear. Each year several mushers get lost. Use of a GPS is not allowed…
Up untill today more people have successfully climbed Mount Everest or been in outher space than there are Iditarod finishers. Last year more than 20% of the participants scratched. Broken ribs or hands, frozen hands or even eyes, sleds broken into shivers or a scattered moral, … These are just a few examples of why people drop out of the race.
