IDITAROD!!!!

Hi, Everyone!

Tammy is in Washington D.C. this weekend, but have no fear . . . the blog continues with more tales of sled dog races.

Today is a very important day in Alaska.  It marks the beginning of the 39th annual Iditarod race.  This race is the big deal for dog mushers; it's the one that people aspire to.  The race starts in Anchorage ceremonial, and ends in Nome approximately a week to two weeks later (depending on how fast the mushers go).  The race covers 1049 miles, and it covers all types of terrains and weather, including temperatures that can reach in the negative 50s with wind.

The start of the race is a bit odd.  This morning the mushers ceremonially leave Anchorage and head about 30 minutes (driving time) north.  They then disembark, load the dogs onto their trailers, and drive to Williow (about 1.5 hours driving time north of Anchorage), where the official start of the race will begin tomorrow morning.

Nonetheless, the ceremonial start in Anchorage provided tons of entertainment.  I (Steve) headed downtown with my co-clerks Tiffany and Irene (visiting from Juneau!) this morning.

The race started pretty much the same way as the Fur Rondy races last week.  The mushers took off from downtown on streets packed with snow.

That team is led by DeeDee Jonrowe.  She's a local musher who has gained tons of respect over her 30 years mushing in the Iditarod.  She has the 5th fastest time ever, and in 1998 she won second in the Iditarod.  There is speculation she may be able to win the full race this year.

But her biggest competition is Lance Mackey.  Mackey is a Fairbanks local who has won the last 4 CONSECUTIVE Iditarods.  Tammy and I watched a documentary on the Iditarod last week, and all of the mushers agreed that they had no idea how Lance does it.  He not only wins, but he often wins by a landslide.  Here he is before the start of the race taking some questions from media:

In 2007, this guy became the first person to ever win the Yukon Quest (another 1000 mile dog sled race) and the Iditarod in the same year.  Pretty impressive.

After we watched a few mushers take off from downtown, the three clerks drove to a nearby airstrip to get a bit of a closer view of the mushers in action.

There are mushers from all over the world who come to compete; this year there are competitors from the US, Canada, Jamaica, and more!  Of course, mushers from the US come from a variety of states, including Alaska, Colorado, and Michigan!

The coolest moment of this morning was getting to see Lance Mackey go by from such a close distance.  Here he comes:

And there he goes:

(P.S. the people in the sled and the backsled is for the ceremonial part of the race.  I don't believe those things will exist once the race starts up again tomorrow).

We'll keep you posted over the next week on the Iditarod stats.  If you want to follow along yourself, you can track the mushers here: http://www.iditarod.com/race/race/currentstandings.html.  Good luck to all the mushers (though I doubt any are reading this blog)!  Gee!  Haw!  Whoa!