Fairbanks to Deadhorse return - Alaska and Points North: Tips and Tales from the Road - page 172

Interesting Info: Sled Dog Races
Back yards full of kennels are a common site in the north. As are donation jars at small town
cafes, “Food for Chendra's dog team.” There are dozens of local races but for serious mush-
ers the world-renowned Alaska Iditarod and Canada's Yukon Quest are what it's all about.
Iditarod Race
www.iditarod.com
Over 8 to 17 days, formidable men and women carve a dangerous track through 1850 km
/1150 mi of forbidding terrain. It's about endurance and skill and the bond between a musher
and the high-spirited dogs they depend on for their lives. The race starts on the first Saturday
in March, still winter in the high north with temps that dip to -40°F and nights that never
seem to end.
Every musher has his or her own strategies with regard to the care and feeding of their dogs,
how they are trained, when they rest and when they run but devotion to their family of dogs
is unanimous. Susan Butcher, a four time winner commented on the criticism that is some-
times levelled by animal lovers about these races, “You have to be very selfless in your ded-
ication to your dogs. When you come into a checkpoint although there may be a wood stove
to warm your feet by, you stay outside; you take care of your dogs, get them bedded down
and fed.”
Fromwhatwesaw,bothatDenaliwheretherangersexercised thedogswithsledsonwheels
and on the back roads where dogs were tearing up the back roads pulling their mushers
around on bikes, the sled dogs are as crazy about running in the wilderness as any city dog
is about their walkies.
The Iditarod attracts people from all walks of life. The superstars may make a living from
racing but most mushers are fishermen and lawyers, miners and artists. They come from 13
different countries and sled dog races are now run in places like Minnesota and Montana,
Europe and Russia. Over 400 mushers have actually finished the Iditarod with the largest
single number being 77 in 2004.