Race Across Alaska

On the first Saturday in March, excited crowds will pour into Anchorage, Alaska, for the start of the annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, Alaska’s biggest sporting event. As spectators cheer, dozens of dog teams will line up, the animals barking, leaping, and lunging in their readiness to take off. Each team tows a small sled carrying its musher (the sole human team member) and supplies.

Billed as “the Last Great Race on Earth,” the Iditarod cuts through 1,049 miles of rugged Arctic wilderness. For the 8 to 15 days it can take to reach the finish line in Nome, mushers and their dogs contend with Alaska’s rough terrain and harsh winter weather. In early March, temperatures can drop to near 0 degrees Fahrenheit.

The first official Iditarod was run 50 years ago, in 1973. It grew out of a shorter 1967 event celebrating the role that dog teams hold in Alaska’s history.

From 1880 to 1914, dozens of gold rushes brought tens of thousands of miners to what then was a U.S. territory. In winter, mushers and their sled dogs were the only way to get mail and life-saving supplies to remote camps and settlements.

The race route honors that heritage by mostly following the main trail those early mushers blazed. The distance is also significant: It’s 1,000 miles for the approximate length of that original trail, plus 49 more as a nod to Alaska’s status as the 49th state to enter the Union.

Rough terrain and freezing temperatures may be the biggest challenges for Iditarod teams, but the event has faced its own difficulties in recent years. Animal rights groups and individual activists have called for ending the event over concerns about the safety and treatment of sled dogs. They say race conditions put the animals at risk for injuries and death. Mushers and other race supporters, however, say the dogs are well cared for and specifically bred for the climate and activity.

“To go 1,049 miles by sled dog team through the snow and ice and wind and storms is almost inconceivable,” Iditarod official Rob Urbach has said. “And yet, it’s what [the] competitors live for. Iditarod really represents the indomitable spirit of Alaska.”