THE IDITAROD “THE LAST GREAT RACE ON EARTH”

THE IDITAROD
Add to that the temperatures far below zero, winds that can cause a complete loss of visibility, the hazards of overflow, long hours of darkness and treacherous climbs and side hills, and you have the IDITAROD. A RACE EXTRAORDINAIRE, a race only possible in Alaska.
From Anchorage, in south central Alaska, to Nome on the western Bering Sea coast, each team of 12 to 16 dogs and its musher cover over 975 miles in 9 to 17 days.
It has been called the Last Great Race on Earth® and has won worldwide acclaim and interest. German, Spanish, British, Japanese and American film crews have covered the event. Journalists from outdoor magazines, adventure magazines, newspapers and wire services flock to Anchorage and Nome to record the excitement. It’s not just a sled dog race ... it’s a race in which unique men and woman compete. Mushers enter from all walks of life. Fishermen, lawyers, doctors, miners, artists, Natives, Canadians, Swiss, French and others; men and women each with their own story, each with their own reasons for going the distance. It’s a race organized and run primarily by volunteers ... thousands of volunteers...men and women, students and village residents. They man headquarters at Anchorage, Nome and Wasilla. They fly in dog food and supplies. They act as checkers, coordinators, veterinarians and family supporters of each musher.
“THE LAST GREAT RACE ON EARTH”
The race pits man and animal against nature, against wild Alaska at her best and as each mile is covered, a tribute to Alaska’s past is issued. The Iditarod is a tie to -- a commemoration of -- that colorful past.
The Iditarod Trail, now a national historic trail, had its beginnings as a mail and supply route from the coastal towns of Seward and Knik to the interior mining camps at Flat, Ophir, Ruby and beyond to the west coast communities of Unalakleet, Elim, Golovin, White Mountain and Nome. Mail and supplies went in. Gold came out. All via dog sled. Heroes were made, legends were born.
In 1925, part of the Iditarod Trail became a lifesaving highway for epidemic-stricken Nome. Diphtheria threatened and serum had to be brought in; again by intrepid dog mushers and their faithful hard-driving dogs.
The Iditarod is a commemoration of those yesterdays, a not-so-distant past that Alaskans honor and are proud of.
AN EVENT FOR ALL ALASKA
Anchorage is the ceremonial starting line -- a city of over 290,000 people, street lights, freeways and traffic. From there the field of dog teams, which varies in number each year, runs to Campbell Airstrip, approximately 20 miles. After a restart the following day in the Matanuska Valley at Willow, the mushers leave the land of highways and bustling activity and head out to the Yentna Station Roadhouse and Skwentna and then up through Finger Lake, Rainy Pass, over the Alaska Range and down the other side to the Kuskokwim River -- Rohn Roadhouse, Nikolai, McGrath, Takotna, Ophir, Cripple, and on to the mighty Yukon at Ruby -- a river highway that takes the teams west through the arctic tundra.

Todays Standings:

RCN America Network

Dogsledding with Polly Mahoney

Dogsledding with Polly Mahoney November 29

Polly Mahoney of Mahoosuc Guide Service in Newry, Maine will share slides of her dogsledding experiences from the Yukon Territory, Maine, Nunavut, and northern Quebec,on Thursday evening, November 29, at 7:00 pm. Polly has been dogsledding for 33 years and is co-owner of her business for the last 23 years, offering dogsledding trips in the northeast. She will bring a couple of her friendly sled dogs to meet you, and a sled to demonstrate harnessing the dogs!

Mahoosuc Guide Service is a small family-run business; Polly and Kevin are professional year-round guides, equally comfortable poling a canoe up the Allagash or driving a dog team across the sea ice of Hudson Bay. Polly says, “Mahoosuc is unique in that we make much of the equipment we use on our guided trips, such as cedar canvas canoes, ash dog sleds, and maple paddles. We have found the traditional equipment and materials we use to be durable, functional, and in many ways preferable to today’s high technology outdoor equipment.

“We have traveled extensively in the north with the Cree and Inuit and many of the techniques we use for northwoods and tundra travel were developed by them. We believe in the intrinsic value of wilderness experiences. Our philosophy of guiding is to respect and accept the wilderness; not to compete against it. We have been fortunate over the years to have been discovered and featured in periodicals such as Cross Country Skier, Mushing, Canoe,Canadian Geographic, Downeast, and a film for National Geographic Explorers Journal and PBS Made in Maine.

“We refer to our dogs as Yukon Huskies. Their bloodlines go back to various parts of the Yukon Territories where they were originally bred by Native people to pull toboggans in deep soft snow conditions. They are big, long-legged, very intelligent, and extremely devoted. Yukon huskies are not as high strung as racing breeds and because of their size and strength you need fewer (normally five) dogs per team. All of these qualities make it easier and more enjoyable for beginners to learn how to work with a dogteam.

“We have been raising, breeding and training our bloodlines for over 33 years. One of the unique features of our dogyard is that we have bred, raised, and trained all of the dogs ourselves. We believe in providing an excellent quality of life for our hard working huskies. We take one or two on our guided canoe trips and we have three one-acre pens they run loose and play in during the summer months. Our commitment to our dogs does not stop when they retire from pulling. We have a very active elder retirement community in our house. We take care of our dogs from birth to death. They are part of our family!”