Iditarod: The last great race

16 Mar 1999: Harold Tunheim mushes his dogs through the finish line during the Iditarod Trail Race in Nome, Alaska. Mandatory Credit: Ezra O. Shaw /Allsport

Iditarod is a sled dog race run across Alaska on the Iditarod trail, in which the mushers (drivers of the dog sleds) and their dogs have to endure one of the harshest places on earth. They have to traverse through mountains, blizzards, rivers and forests under extreme cold conditions. Each year during March, mushers contend to finish quickest from Anchorage to Nome following the Iditarod trail.

It starts every year on the first Saturday in March and usually runs for around 10-15 days. The race in its present form is being organized since 1973. Initially attracting interest only in Alaska, its popularity has now slowly spread to other countries, especially in Europe. Since its inception, with every succeeding year, the race has become more and more professional and gained much recognition amongst the other established sports.

Iditarod trail was historically used as a major route for transportation of people and goods. It played a pivotal role in the establishment of the modern state of Alaska. Dog sledding remained popular, especially in villages, even during the middle half of the twentieth century, but with the advent of snowmobiles, its popularity started to dwindle. Joe Redington Sr, observing this, conceptualised the sled dog race in order to re-ignite interest in the tradition of using sled dogs and also to popularise the Iditarod trail. It is for this contribution, that Joe Redington Sr. has been rightly called the “Father of the Iditarod”.

Even before the origin of this race in its present form, similar races had been organised around the area during the first half of 1900s and also during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Dorothy G. Page organised a similar race on a shorter route in 1967, with the support of Joe Redington Sr, but the popularity of the event dwindled in the subsequent years. Finally in 1972, Joe Redington Sr along with Gleo Huyck and Tom Johnson laid the foundation for the never before conceived long distance race to be run from 1973 onwards. Initially people were skeptical about Joe’s idea of holding such a race and thought it to be crazy. But they were proved wrong when the first race became a success and since then a total of over 400 mushers have now finished the race.

The race is officially 1,049 miles long since Alaska is the 49th state of the USA, but the total distance varies each year. Every year, the musher finishing first is rewarded with a cash prize, while the last place finisher extinguishes a red lantern which he is allowed to keep. The Iditarod trail consists of two routes – Northern and Southern. Till 1977 the Northen route was solely utilized, but since then the Northern route has been utilized during even numbered years and the Southern route during odd numbered years.

This has been done in order to include all the villages which were originally a part of the Iditarod trail. Along the race, there are several checkpoints which mushers have to pass through; here they can either rest for a while or continue the race. The Northern route consists of 26 checkpoints while the southern route consists of 27 checkpoints.

Initially majority of the participants included only Alaskans or North Americans, but slowly with the growing popularity of the sport, participation from European countries, Japan, Australia and Russia has increased significantly. Dick Wilmarth won the inaugural race in 1973, finishing in a time of 20 days 00 hours 49 minutes and 41 seconds. Mitch Seavey is the most recent winner, finishing in a time of 9 days 7 hours 39 minutes and 56 seconds.

The numerous records achieved have been mentioned below:

Iditarod Records

Musher Year(s) Record

Dallas Seavey 2012 Youngest Musher to Win (Age 25)

Mitch Seavey 2013 Oldest Musher to Win (Age 53)

John Baker 2011 Fastest Winning Time (8 Days, 19h 46m 39s)

Rick Swanson 1977-79-81-82-91 Most Times Won (5)

Lance Mackey 2007-08-09-10 Most Consecutive Wins (4)

Mary Shields 1974 First Woman to Finish

Libby Riddles 1985 First Woman to Win

Doug Swingley 1995 First Winner from Outside Alaska

Robert Sorlie 2003 First Winner from Overseas

Jean Claude Valette of France is pulled by his Siberian Huskies in front of mount Eiskogel during the Sled Dog World Championships in Werfenweng in Austria’s Salzburg province February 15, 2009. (REUTERS/Heinz-Peter Bader) #

Though there is the Iditarod trail through which the mushers have to pass, there is no strict demarcation of the route to be followed on this trail; the only thing mushers need to ensure is that they pass through the checkpoints in a sequential order designated at different places during the race. In this aspect, Iditarod is quite different from other forms of races around the world, in most of which racers compete on a pre-determined track. Also, during the races, mushers enjoy a lot of freedom as they can decide themselves how much load they will be carrying, at what time they will rest and what time is the most suitable and safe for them to continue racing.

Thus, the restrictions imposed on the mushers are quite minimal when compared to their other racing counterparts, especially in motor racing. The restrictions have been kept minimal so as to be in line with the traditional art of mushing prevalent along the Iditarod trail. Though the restrictions are less and more freedom is given to the mushers, any error on the part of the mushers and they might become prey to the harsh weather which can affect both the dogs and the mushers, making them suffer from frostbite, illness or even death.

Every year more than 50 mushers from several countries around the world arrive at Alaska to test their mushing skills. Each one of them is accompanied by 16 dogs which totals to around 800-1000 dogs a year. The dogs are usually Alaskan Malamutes or Siberian Huskies, but several mix-breed dogs are widely used today who have better speed, better endurance ability or better strength and stamina.

Although there have been no human fatalities during the race, there have been dog deaths along the years. Due to this, Iditarod has been criticized for being harmful to dogs. Several groups, especially PETA and ASPCA have raised allegations related to the cruel treatment meted out to the dogs in the race.

They have alleged that the dogs have to go through tremendous pressure due to pulling sleds for long distances and that too under extreme cold conditions. Allegations have also been leveled against the mushers who are suspected to be pushing their dogs too hard and not undertaking enough steps to maintain their health. But several steps are being taken towards this issue: medical help has been increased considerably, mushers found guilty of ill treating their dogs have been disqualified and also prior to the race, all the dogs are thoroughly checked for illnesses and other disabilities by a team of veterinarians.

Iditarod certainly has helped in restoring the popularity of sled dogs around Alaska and has also ignited interest for it in other countries. Now, for more than 40 years old, the Iditarod race has attracted attention of thousands of people who flock to Alaska every year to witness the mushers conquering one of the most unforgiving terrains in the world i.e. the Iditarod trail.

For a deeper insight into the race, a documentary released by the Discovery Channel focusing on the 2008 race called “Iditarod: Toughest Race on Earth” can be referred.