They love to run

Elizabeth Youngman-Westphal

Special to The Village News

In the land of the midnight sun, twilight will have lifted before the 50th Annual Iditarod race starts on the first Saturday in March. Tradition dictates that all teams depart from 4th and D Streets in downtown Anchorage. It has been that way since 1973.

This year, there will be 57 teams striking out in the oldest race of its kind. It's an even year, so they will take the North Course through Alaska's interior. The trail wedges over, under, and through hip-deep snow, around forests, and plows across icy tundra, often in subzero temperatures, on the way to the finish line in Nome.

Mushers have conditioned their athletic dog teams to run in every condition throughout the preceding year. That is why they can cross Alaska's core safely even if the weather turns to blizzard-like conditions.

But why? The answer comes from musher Bill Vaudrin, "...all that country will be yours. It will belong to you in a way that no one could ever annul or diminish, because you will have staked the only claim to it that the land recognizes; you will have penetrated to the heart of it – and become a part of it – and it will become a part of you. Forever."

Historically, starting timeslips are pulled from a mukluk, an Alaska native sealskin boot, at the Musher's Banquet the night before the race, setting the roster for the March 5 lineup. Teams will depart every four minutes, which means the last to go, can be behind the pack by almost four hours.

This year's 57 dog sled teams will depart first from the ceremonial point in downtown Anchorage then sled nearly 2 hours away to the official lineup in Willow, Alaska.

The race was created to ensure the continuation of the Alaskan sled dog breed and to pay tribute to their decades of valiant service.

In fact, one sled dog rose to infamy in 1925 when a diphtheria epidemic threatened the entire village of Nome. It was in the dead of winter and there was only one way to transport the lifesaving serum. It had to be by dogsled.

Twenty sled dog teams ran 671 miles around-the-clock to relay the 300 doses of the life-saving serum intime to save the villagers.

Now fashioned after "The Great Race of Mercy," immortalizing Balto, the lead dog of the final sled into Nome, the Iditarod long distance endurance race continues to salute the bravery of the Alaskan sled dog bred to run.

"The Last Great Race" got its name in the early 1900's when gold was found at Otter Creek along the "Haidilatna" River. Impossible for newcomers to pronounce, the name has been immortalized from the Alhat native tongue-twister by anglicizing it to "Iditarod."

The race continues to share the historical significance of the Alaskan sled dog as well as instilling village pride by state-wide participation. The three different courses for the Iditarod race route through as many Alaskan villages as possible.

It is customary for each village stop to provide veterinary services, meals and places to rest. The smallest village on one route has only eight inhabitants, yet they proudly provide a spaghetti dinner for all of the mushers, volunteers, and even assist in feeding the 800 dogs.

"Although the first Iditarod race in 1973 was 1,049 miles taking 20 days, the updated races vary between 940-998 miles." Most years the race crosses the Alaska Range, but that too is based on snow fall.

Last year, five-time-winner Dallas Seavey beat his own record time in 2021 coming in at 7 days, 14 hours and 57 minutes. It is hard to believe that dog sled teams can reach speeds up to 12 miles per hour and in certain conditions, and for short distances, as fast as 20 mph. These sure-footed dogs can outrun a horse.

It takes Olympic-level athletes, like their contemporaries in Beijing, to make it through the pre-qualifying races just to earn a slot in this most celebrated endurance contest.

To ensure every team is accounted for, the Iditarod race does not end until the last team arrives in Nome. To acknowledge the determination it takes to bring the final team home, that musher and team will get the celebrated Red Lantern Award commemorating their fortitude, will-power, and dedication to complete the rugged course.

The Iditarod is surely one of the toughest races of all time.

The Iditarod long-distance-endurance race continues out of love for the sled dog. There could be no other reason for so many teams to participate. Mushers pre-qualify, to prove their competence, by running in three mandatory pre-qualifying races. Although, once they prove their ability, they no longer need to pre-qualify. One former winner who was asked why he continues to run, answered, "because it's just me and the dogs."

"Dog owners (will) understand the challenges of training a single dog – but mushers leave the chute with 14 dogs and must finish with at least five. It takes an amazing bond between musher and lead dog to inspire the rest of the dogs to work together. Every musher knows 'sled dogs love to run.' It is the musher's skill and devotion to his team that gets them safely over the frozen tundra in subzero temperatures to the finish line."

No surprise to find out how much it costs to feed, train, and kennel the dozens of dogs needed to create a team. The costs can rack up as much as $30,000 a year in hopes of winning a $50,000 purse, which is confusing with over $200,000 collected in entry fees.

The Iditarod purse is probably one of the smallest prizes for an event of this magnitude. The entry fee is $4,000 per musher and team just to compete in the race every year.

The Iditarod claims to be a fair playing field and open to all competitors. Competitors arrive from around the world, but to date, only two non-Alaskans have won, one team from Montana and the other from Norway who won in 2020.

With that in mind, the Iditarod is an equal opportunity event. Men and women compete on equal footing. All it takes is courage. That said, Libby Riddles is the first woman to win in 1985, hours ahead of the other teams. Looking back, she admits it was probably a miscalculation that might have proved disastrous, that brought her team in hours before the others. Her story is available online. Since then, several more women have won with a few winning multiple times.

When the Iditarod is running, it becomes a day of celebration across the state of Alaska. Spectators gather at both the ceremonial and real start line on the first Saturday in March without fail.

At race stops on the route, businesses close and village children are released from school to participate in this historical event. It is a colossal effort that draws volunteers and dog teams, not only from across Alaska, but from around the world and at their own expense.

The logistics required to pull off the Iditarod cross-country-endurance race requires hundreds of volunteers, countless hours of devotion, sponsorship, and a year of planning to see that everyone crosses the finish line safely. To accomplish that, outposts are set up along the race trail to aid mushers and teams.

Yet, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals enthusiasts continue to condemn this race by coercing, bullying, and threatening sponsors to drop sponsorship, which is why Dodge Ram stopped giving a new truck to the winner each year, but on the other hand, no one criticizes the horrid conditions imposed on the volunteers.

After all, often these brave folks are driven through subzero weather on snowmobiles to remote areas which do not even have toilet facilities, running water, or electricity and their only heat will come from a barrel fire if they can scavenge enough wood through the waist deep snow.

To me, the volunteers have it much worse than the dogs. It takes more than 50 veterinarians and vet assistants to manage the welfare of the teams. Before the race, each dog is tagged and microchipped in order to be identified at each vet check.

While the highest standards are set for the vets, they must have a minimum of 5-years of small animal care experience to be included; however, volunteers only require stamina to participate.

At every stop, along the way, vets and mushers must sign the trail log to confirm the welfare of each dog before departing. Should, however, the vet feel a dog is in jeopardy, that animal can be pulled from harness, put on the sled, or even airlifted out to the nearest care facility.

Yes, there is even an Iditarod Air Force. It consists of licensed pilots using their personal planes just in case there is a need to evacuate an injured dog. They willingly transfer dogs, people, deliver food, or supplies to the many remote locations – all at their own expense.

This is not a race for the faint of heart. It takes grit and stamina. It is a true test through a rugged course into the heart of Alaska along the Yukon Valley for dogs, mushers, and volunteers.

To continue learning more about this amazing event, visit the https://iditarod.com/ to read the complete history of this remarkable race into the land of the midnight sun.

Elizabeth Youngman-Westphal can be reached at [email protected].