Maps and General Information on the Iditarod

          The Iditarod is a race run in Alaska each year. The race stretches 1,151 miles through the Alaskan wilderness. Just to put in perspective how long this race is, the shortest time it has taken a musher to finish the Iditarod is 9 days, 2 hours, 42 minutes, and 19 seconds by Doug Swingley in 1995. Mushers train their dogs all year long in order for them to have success in this race.

          According to officials at Iditarod.com it cost 1,750 dollars, this includes membership with the Iditarod Trail Committee and the MUSH with Pride Organization.

          Competing in the race, there can be anywhere from 70 to 100 mushers. In the race of 2000, there  is a total of 85 mushers. There are 74 men and 11 women. There is also a total of 31 rookies and 54 veterans. 7 of them are previous champions. 59 of the mushers are from Alaska, 16 are form the United States, and 10 are foreign.

          Some rules and requirements of the Iditarod are as follows. Here are some of the items you have to have if you wish to be in the Iditarod: cold-weather sleeping bag, Ax, snowshoes, 8 booties for each dog, a cooker and a pot, and a veterinarian notebook. You must have at least 12 dogs on your team at the beginning of the race but you can have as many as 16 if you chose to. Mushers will be penalized if they do not treat their dogs properly. The winner of the Iditarod receives a 50,000 dollar purse for his/her accomplishment.

          Weather on the Iditarod varies greatly. The temperatures can range from slightly above zero to -60° below with the wind chill factor. Dogs like it the best with the temperature about -10°. Blizzards and snowstorms can pop up on a musher at any time. Treacherous winds can affect the speed of your dogs drastically. Basically, on the Iditarod trail tons of weather conditions can pop up on you at the least expected time and as a musher you have to prepared for these conditions when you are mushing.

          The Iditarod starts in Anchorage, Alaska and proceeds through towns such as Yentna, Rainy Pass, Iditarod, Unalakleet and finally to the finish line in the town of Nome. Along the way there are 26 checkpoints. Each musher stops and has their dogs checked by veterinarians for anything wrong with them. It is pretty much up to the mushers how long they want to rest their dogs. Usually the dogs work for the same amount of time as they sleep. People say that a good musher knows when and how much to rest his/her dogs. As the mushers work their way through the trail dogs sometimes get sick or injured. Iditarod officials take away the dogs and send them back home. The winner of the Iditarod usually avoids natural weather problems, rests their dogs the right amount of time, and possess a prior knowledge of the track.

          That concludes our report on the Iditarod. I hope everybody learned some interesting and helpful facts about this huge and exciting race.