Iditarod 2008

Yesterday I got up bright and early to head down to the unofficial start (ie, the tourist and media start) of this year's Iditarod. A little background for those that don't know already. The Iditarod commemorates the trip taken by mushers in 1925 who drove a 674-mile diphtheria serum run from Nenana (up near Fairbanks and where I went dog sledding) to Nome to save hundreds of lives.

So, the snow that had been imported for Fur Rondy last week was added to a bit and the side streets were blocked off to leave room for all the teams and their kennels to have their own area to get set up. The media folks went around and did interviews and regular folks could talk to the mushers and get their autographs. The dogs were pretty quiet until they got hooked up to their sleds- then they wanted to go, go, go! And the other dogs that weren't racing were baying from their kennels, letting it be known that they wanted to go, too, dang it! That's what the guy in the picture above was saying.

After getting a few shots of the prep work, I headed down to the start and managed to score a pretty good view. They stagger the starts, though since it's the unofficial start, I'm pretty sure they don't actually use the times, but they were timing it for some reason. Maybe just to keep things moving. The dogs were loaded down with three people and two sleds, so I'd hope they wouldn't use that time for anything. Each musher takes a rider (no clue how they pick the riders-they seemed pretty random) and then there's a sled attached behind the regular sled with someone really laying on the brake to keep the dogs moving slow. Probably so all the media outlets and tourists and such can get good shots. Not really a bad idea to have a fake start if it keeps all the nonsense to a minimum at the official start. I mean, there were camera guys all up in the dog's faces and in the way as they were counting down from five seconds. Seemed a bit intrusive.

I uploaded the video of it to YouTube- here's part one and here's part two. It shows what the kennels look like (and sound like) and then the cutting of the ribbon and several of the first folks starting (I couldn't work the camera in gloves and it was too cold to have bare skin for all the first fifteen). There were nearly 100 mushers, so I didn't stick around for all of them (it was a bit chilly and windy yesterday- God had to make sure if felt like Alaska for the tourists- in the teens with a wind chill that easily made it feel like zero at best), but I was there for the first fifteen mushers, including last year's winner, Lance MacKey; four time winner, Jeff King; and Martin Buser, who has run the Iditarod *24 times* (I think this year is #25), holds the record for the fastest run at 8 days, 22 hours and change, and has also won four times. Frankly, I find it way more impressive that he's run it 24 times, once just days after he had a woodworking accident and lost part of a finger! Yeah, you have to control the sled and hang on *with your hands*. And in the cold? I can't even fathom how much that hurt. Man. I liked that he went to each of his dogs just before they started and loved on them and talked to them. He's won the award for best treatment of his team many times.

The last musher I saw start was from Evanston, IL. I thought that was rather cool. His name is Hugh Neff, and he went to the U of I. He moved up here in 1995, so I think they would consider him an Alaskan now since he's put in ten years. Heh!

After he started, I walked back home, braving the four inch sheet of ice that are our roads and sidewalks right now. I need to go get some 'grippers' today. These are like cleats that you strap to the bottom of your shoes so that you can get some traction on the ice. Sort of like studded tires for your feet. With break-up coming, I'm going to need them for sure. Walking Buck has become a bit of a production because of the hill we have to scale to get to the park. Hill + ice = no fun at all.

Ok, Buck and I are going to see if there's anyone at the park to play with. The weather seems to have improved- it's back in the twenties where we like it (it got warmer hence all the ice everywhere when it re-froze), and hopefully the wind went away, too. It sounds odd, but it's not windy very often here. Anchorage is in a bowl, and the Chugach Mountains to the east block a lot of the wind.