Iditarod 101

We got to see the start of the "Last Great Race." Turns out it is a ceremonial start where the mushers get to carry their family or other people from Anchorage to Eagle River. Then the real start is today up in Willow. JaDee went down early in the morning to get assigned to his team as a dog handler. A dog handler holds the dogs in the harness when they are hooked up to the sled, but still waiting to take off. They run along side the dogs, holding the harness to the start line. JaDee was with team 14 of 69.


The musher's name was Gary. He lives in the middle of nowhere here in AK. He had 18 dogs with him that will run the Iditarod at various legs. He has, however 50 dogs total at home. 50 dogs! That is a lot of food and a lot of poop! Many of the mushers are from Alaska but there were teams from Nebraska and Washington that I saw as well.


One musher only runs white dogs. His team is all white. He is apparently a famous musher and JaDee saw him and his team, but since we are new fans of the sport he was not aware of the enormity of the sighting. There were alot of big name mushers but you would never guess it. Most of the truck used to haul the teams are old pickups with homemade plywood kennels built onto the bed. The only "professional" looking equipment was the team that the National Guard ran. They were all color coordinated Red White and Blue trucks and kennels. Turns out a retired musher named Mackey trains the dogs for them. Mackey's family goes back 3 generations of mushers who have won the Iditarod. So while we are proud of country's representation out there on the trail, they are the spoiled ones.


Sled dogs are NOT huskies!!! They are this mongrel mix of husky, German shepherd, and a bunch of other things that keep them small and quick with floppy ears.


Anyway, check out the pictures and wish JaDee good luck in Kaltag!


The starting line at 4th and D St

As they go rushing by us

A musher prepares his sled



The dogs are anxious to get going. that is why they need a handler. Once they are hooked to the sled they just want to run. And the barking!! There were 69 teams. Each team has an average of 10 dogs hooked up at a time. That is 700 dogs!! But, they only bark when they are hooked up. In their kennels they are quiet and when they start to pull they are quiet. Pretty amazing.




Olivia met the "Rondy" Princesses. The Iditarod has roots with the fur rendezvous that was also held at this time. Rondy Festival has been going on all week, much like Peach Days, but in the winter!

After the last team we went out on 4th St at the start.

The snow has to be trucked on to 4th street until they can get out to open snow. That really won't be until they pass Eagle River 8 miles away. They will follow the groomed trails for skiers until then.

Clean up. Notice the fur sign. 4th St is home of the furriers. There are fur shops up and down 4th. And not a PETA protester in sight.

Here is the National Guard kennel and their team we got to see hook up. No one else looked this nice. That kennel is 2 "stories" tall and is double sided. Meaning the dogs are rear to rear with another dog on the other side of the wall. This kennel holds 20 dogs, ten on each side. Most of the teams have kennels designed just like this, but made out of plywood in the shop back home.

The guard even had matching jackets. We also saw Eukanuba and another sponsored team that had matching jackets for this start too.

JaDee the dog handler. That was his backstage pass!

Close up of dogs

A handler hooking up a dog. After he was hooked she did not let go of the rope and another person helped hook the next dog. It took as many as 10 people to hook up and handle a team depending on how the musher wanted his dogs handled.

There is the 2 story National guard kennel

And he is off!

Carter and Ethan has a team rushes by at the start