Iditarod Dog Sled Race

Photo by Rebecca Coolidge

In January of 1925, a diphtheria outbreak threatened to wipe out the town of Nome, population 1,500. The life-saving serum on hand had expired the summer before and the local doctor had ordered more, but the port of Nome froze and the area was inaccessible by ship, plane or train. The town was placed in quarantine, but children were dying, and unless the serum could reach Nome, this deadly disease threatened to spread across Alaska. A supply of antitoxin serum was located 1,000 miles away in Anchorage. The serum was shipped by train to Nenana where it was decided a relay of dog sled teams would pick it up and transport it 674 miles, using the historic Iditarod supply and postal route trail. However, the serum would only last six days in the frigid weather and the average run time between Nenana and Nome was 25 days.

Photo by judyo.photos

Twenty mushers with over 100 dogs volunteered to make the run. Their backgrounds were as diverse as Alaska and included trappers, guides, racers and mailmen. They were Native Alaskans, locals and Norwegians, and they faced unprecedented peril including wind chill temperatures of 85 below zero. One musher lost two shorthaired lead dogs to frostbite while traversing the frozen Yukon River. Placing the dying dogs in his sled, he strapped on the lead harness and led his team to the next relay point. Another musher recalled that he couldn’t even see his dogs in the whiteout. He let them find the way on their own and they instinctively followed the trail. The last musher and his team, led by his borrowed lead dog Balto, arrived in Nome on February 2nd at 5:30 am. It took the relay 127 hours and 30 minutes, just over 5 days to reach their destination and save the town of Nome.

Every March, in what has been called “The Last Great Race,” mushers and their dog sled teams travel over 1000 miles from Anchorage to Nome to celebrate the historic serum run of 1925.

The ceremonial start of the race is in downtown Anchorage with the competition re-starting in the town of Willow, 80 miles north of Anchorage. Some of the ways to be involved in the Iditarod: visit a kennel as weeks before the race many mushers open up their kennels to visitors, book a flight-seeing or snowmobile package tour and “chase the race,” attend the opening ceremonies or volunteer for the race, including helping handle the dogs, communicating with checkpoints and monitoring updates.

For more information visit. iditarod.com