Page 39 - Travel Guide Fly Alaska Winter Edition

the serum would only last six unprecedented peril including He let them find the way on
days in the frigid weather and wind chill temperatures of 85 their own and they instinctively
the average run time between below zero. One musher lost followed the trail. The last
Nenana and Nome was 25 days. two shorthaired lead dogs to musher and his team, led by
Twenty mushers with over frostbite while traversing the his borrowed lead dog Balto,
100 dogs volunteered to make frozen Yukon River. Placing arrived in Nome on February
the run. Their backgrounds the dying dogs in his sled, he 2nd at 5:30 am. It took the relay
were as diverse as Alaska and strapped on the lead harness 127 hours and 30 minutes,
included trappers, guides, and led his team to the next just over 5 days to reach their
racers and mailmen. They were relay point. Another musher destination and save the town
Native Alaskans, locals and recalled that he couldn’t even of Nome.
Norwegians, and they faced see his dogs in the whiteout. 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.

Photo by Theresa Bielawski

WINTER EDITION
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