Iditarod 2008
The 2008 Iditarod is in progress in Alaska. The actual race began last Sunday just North of Anchorage in Willow AK. They had the ceremonial start in Anchorage on Saturday . Ninety five teams began the race to Nome. As of today, six teams have scratched from the Iditarod. Thirty nine teams have reached the Halfway checkpoint at Cripple. My favorite musher, DeeDee Jonrowe, was the first to the halfway checkpoint in Cripple and was the winner of the GCI Dorothy Page Halfway Award which netted her $3,000 in gold nuggets. She won this award on the day of her husband's birthday and commented that it would m
ake a nice birthday present for him.
Lance Mackey , last year's Iditarod winner, has the lead now. Along with Jeff King and Rick Swenson, former Iditarod winners, they all took the mandatory 24 hour rest earlier on the trail and are now making shorter stops at the checkpoints. Lance Mackey also has claimed the First To The Yukon award of $3,000 by reaching the checkpoint at Ruby ahead of the others.
Strategy will play a huge part in the remaining days of the race. The leaders have less than 500 miles of the 1,112 miles left to run but some on the trail have not yet reached the halfway point. About half the mushers have taken their 24 hour layover. There will be a mandatory 8 hour layover in White Mountain.
This is to insure that mushers and dog teams are rested for the last 77 miles of the trip to Nome.
This year for the first time there are GPS tracking units along with some of the teams. This is being done as an experimental thing. Last year a team was lost in a blizzard on the trail for about 24 hours. This year Paul Gebhardt was leading the race on the way to Cripple and was expected to be first to the halfway checkpoint at Cripple. He was not carrying a GPS unit and became lost for a period of time dropping back to 8th before he found his was again. It will be interesting to see if the GPS units become a part of the Iditarod equipment for all teams in the future.
***If you want to know more about the Iditarod, read my article, What is the Iditarod.
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976927586
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What Is The Iditarod?
Have you ever read about the mercy run, now thats fasinating reading
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
During the 1925 serum run to Nome, also known as the "Great Race of Mercy", 20 mushers and about 150 sled dogs relayed diphtheria antitoxin 674 miles (1,085 km) by dog sled across the U.S. territory of Alaska in a record-breaking five and a half days, saving the small city of Nome and the surrounding communities from an incipient epidemic.