The “Last Greatest Race” Has Concluded!
 

Nowhere on earth can you find a race of this magnitude or toughness and whose participants have the fortitude of super heroes.

Wayne Gerdes - CleanMPG - March 14, 2012

66 Dog-sled teams take part in the 40th running of the Iditarod, from Anchorage to Nome, AK. Race begins with sled dogs on the run.

Willow, AK -- In 5 degree Fahrenheit temps and clear blue skies, the official start of the 40th running of “The Last Greatest Race on Earth” occurred on March 4th at 02:00 PM local time from Willow, Alaska approximately 50-miles due north of Anchorage. The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race began with 66 teams mushing their way across some of Alaska’s worse terrain and conditions in this year's 1,000-mile race from Anchorage to Nome.

2011 champion John Baker was on hand to defend his title and even try to break his course record of 8 days, 18 hours, 46 minutes and 39 seconds. He will have to go up against the likes of four-time winners Jeff King and Martin Buser, who are trying to match Rick Swenson's record five titles.

Lifesaving history

Although Sled-dog teams were in severe decline after the many gold-rushes of Alaska past, the sled dogs had one last taste of glory. In early 1925, a diphtheria epidemic threatened a completely isolated at the time, Nome, AK. The nearest serum was in Anchorage and the first thought was to fly it to Nome. The only pilot in the Territory capable of braving the unpredictable weather was Carl Ben Eielson, who was on a trip in the Lower 48 and was not available. Instead, a Pony Express-type relay of dog teams was quickly organized. The serum was loaded on the newly completed Alaska Railroad and rushed to Nenana, where the first musher took it westward down the frozen Tanana River to the Yukon. Every village along the route offered its best team and driver for its leg to speed the serum toward Nome. The critical leg across the treacherous Norton Sound ice from Shaktoolik to Golovin was taken by Leonhard Seppala, the territory’s premier musher, and his lead dog Togo. Gunnar Kaasen drove the final two legs into Nome behind his lead dog Balto, through a blizzard hurling 80 mph winds.

The diphtheria outbreak within Nome took 5 to 7-lives but because the serum arrived in such an expeditious manner, the epidemic was halted saving hundreds of lives. The 20 mushers had covered almost 700 miles in little more than 127 hours (about six days) in temperatures that rarely rose above 40° below zero and winds sometimes strong enough to blow over dogs and sleds. The serum run received worldwide press coverage and the mushers received special gold medals. A statue of Balto, the heroic lead dog, was erected a year later in New York’s Central Park.

Northern and Southern Trails


In even years, the Northern trail is taken while in odd ones, the Southern.

Both trails are a part of the Iditarod National Historical Trail which was used in early years for all winter travel. Dog sleds delivered the mail, the preacher, groceries and hauled out gold and furs all the way to Anchorage or Fairbanks.

During the early years of the Iditarod Race, the mushers only traveled the northern trail. After several years, the Iditarod Board of Directors realized that the smaller villages were being heavily impacted by the race coming through their village year after year. It was decided to use both sections of the trail.

This decision had a threefold effect. The northern villages of Ruby, Galena and Nulato only had to deal with the large group of mushers, press and volunteers every other year. The second effect was that the race was able to pass through the actual ghost town of Iditarod. Lastly, the villages of Shageluk, Anvik and Grayling were able to participate in the race.

2012 Iditarod Winner Crosses

Alaskan native Dallas Seavey at 25 became the youngest winner of the Anchorage to Nome Iditarod in its long and illustrious history.

Musher Dallas Seavey (Bib # 34) arrived in Nome, Alaska and crossed under the burled arch at 19:29 Alaska Time with 9 dogs on his team claiming his first Iditarod Championship. Thousands of fans lined the street to greet the youngest person to have ever won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Seavey now holds the record for being the youngest person to have won the Iditarod and actually turned 25 years old while on the trail. The previous record was held by Rick Swenson since 1977, when he won his first Iditarod at the age of 26.

Seavey’ s team traveled the Iditarod Trail in 9 days, 04 hours, 29 minutes, 26 seconds. The record is still held by John Baker the 2011 Champion at a time of 8 days, 18 hours, 46 minutes, 39 seconds .

Iditarod mushing must run in the family as Dallas’ father Mitch who won in 2004 was on the trail finishing seventh. Dallas’ 74-year old grandfather was running his fifth Iditarod to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Iditarod trail.


Dallas Seavey:
2012 Iditarod Standings

Finish	Driver	Checkpoint	Time
1	Dallas Seavey	IN TO Nome	03-13 19:29
2	Aliy Zirkle	IN TO Nome	03-13 20:29
3	Ramey Smyth	IN TO Nome	03-13 21:04
4	Aaron Burmeister	IN TO Nome	03-14 01:04
5	Peter Kaiser	IN TO Nome	03-14 02:06

For the best montage’ of pictures from this year’s Iditarod, look no further than The 2012 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

They re off!

Re: The “Last Greatest Race” Has Concluded!
 

Re: The “Last Greatest Race” Has Concluded!
 

Hi Andrew:

That is so fitting as these brave men and woman took to the trail in arctic conditions with only themselves and their trusted dogs to keep them safe from harm along the route. Of course the races support team is there to help but they are at checkpoints as far as a hundred miles ahead or behind during some periods of the race. That is a long haul in conditions like that for anyone to fathom!

Wayne

Re: The “Last Greatest Race” Has Concluded!
 

The summary doesn't mention how Joe Redington revived dog mushing by creating the modern Iditarod race. I met him and Susan Butcher when they were working at a Whitney-Fidalgo fish processing plant in Emmonak, on the Middle Mouth of the Yukon River ~1980.

Re: The “Last Greatest Race” Has Concluded!
 

Why is this the last race.

Re: The “Last Greatest Race” Has Concluded!
 

Hi Jud:

It is not the "Last" but "The Last Greatest". There is no other race quite like it on the planet.

Wayne

Re: The “Last Greatest Race” Has Concluded!
 

It defaults to car. You need to select "by dog sled".

Re: The “Last Greatest Race” Has Concluded!
 

Here's a good story about a local guy that wound up not racing, but did a heck of a good deed in the process of signing out of the race.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...,3316120.story

Re: The “Last Greatest Race” Has Concluded!
 

This is a very interesting race to watch. Lots of gamesmanship between competitors. It is a real chess match! Hal

Re: The “Last Greatest Race” Has Concluded!
 

Don't forget the "Bike," "Walk," or "Ski" options.

No, I am not kidding: In addition to the well-known Iditarod Trail Dog Sled Race, there is another annual race along the same trail called the Iditarod Invitational. Also known as Iditasport, Iditabike and/or Iditaski, this is a human powered race. There are 350 mile and 1000 mile variants of the race, and every year a few hardy racers opt to take on the full trail to Nome, with 13 entrants in the 1000 mile race this year. It is slower than the dogsled race, but not by as much as you might think: The course records to Nome are just over 15 days by bike, 20 days by foot and 30 days by ski. Like the Iditadog, the Iditasport alternates between the northern and southern routes, but takes the opposite route as the dog sled race.

If you have a few minutes, watch the video on the link above, and try to ponder doing THAT across 1000 miles of Alaska wilderness. In the winter. I can't say I fully comprehend what it would take to pull it off.

Re: The “Last Greatest Race” Has Concluded!
 

!! I wasn't aware of those alternatives. Alaska attracts a lot of the "can do" crowd, because the "can't do" crowd leaves, or dies.

I met the most mature 22 year old in my experience on the middle mouth of the Yukon River, in Emmonak. The previous Fall, he'd been motoring out of an ADFG salmon counting camp when their boat hit a submerged log and sank with all their possessions. They had to hike out 30 miles to civilization in terrain that's 75% water, or die.

Another time I met two guys who'd lost a CV joint on their Jeep 32 miles in through the muskeg. They had to hike out, get a replacement, hike back in, repair the Jeep, and drive back out. All part of the Alaskan experience.

We had a similar experience, breaking a drive chain on an ATV 30 miles in. We had to drive out to a pay phone, call our wives, have them buy the link and a half master link for the repair, and drive it 150 miles to the pay phone the next day. We drove the 30 miles back to camp, dressed out the Moose we'd killed next to the dead ATV, and drove back to the pay phone the next day to get the chain repair part. Another round trip to camp with one of the wives and two curious kids, repair the chain, haul the moose meat to camp, drive back out with wife, kids, and 600 lbs of moose meat, and back to camp to resume hunting.