The Iditarod, Alaska’s big dog sled race, is under way, and the leaders have reached the Yukon River and will be headed own river toward Nome. At this point they have traveled 600 of the 1100 miles, and the two men who finished first and second in the Kuskokwim 300 race, Martin Buser and Jeff King, are one and two in the Iditarod at this point. With three or four days remaining, anything can happen, however. I’ll be telling a bit each day to keep you up with it.

At the halfway point, nineteen racers have dropped out of the race. The problem is more of the results of “Global Warming.” Much of the first half of the trail had no snow, and in going over rocks and roots, drivers tore up sleds, and dogs cut their paws badly.

Perhaps the real story of bravery (or stupidity) is that of Bryan Mills. In the first two hundred miles, his dogs hit a frozen root that bent with the sled. After they passed it, it flew back and hit Bryan in the shin, breaking his tibia. He has now completed 600 miles, 400 of them on a broken leg. He is taking nothing for pain, and is  not in a cast. He no longer expects to win, but his goal is to complete the race. Two other mushers, one of them a woman, have dropped out with broken bones.

Another musher fell off his sled when his dogs hit a root, and the dogs ran on without him. He was picked up by another musher, a class act of sportsmanship, and taken to where he could get a snow machine to find his dogs. He is still in the race, although he had to take his dogs back and go over all the ground they had covered alone.

The racers had to contend with winds of over 90 mph at Rainy Pass, and some were “blown” off the trail. Others dropped out of the race, rather than face such dangerous winds.

One man, Lance Mackey won the Yukon Quest recently. If he wins the Iditarod, he will have done it with the same dog team and would become the first person in history to win the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod in the same year.

It’s a few days later, and we have learned that Lance Mackey did indeed win the Iditarod on March 13th, so he has won two 1100 mile races three weeks apart. The last person to cross the finish line did it on March 21st.

During the Iditarod there were check points with warm places to stay and hot food to eat, but on the Yukon Quest, mushers had to take everything they and their dogs needed, so, with taking care of their dogs and themselves, they must be the real athletes of the world. They don’t receive millions for being winners either. Lance Mackey, for winning the Iditarod, received $69,000 and a new truck. I don’t know what he won for the Yukon Quest.

The planners and organizers are serious about the treatment the dogs receive. One driver was disqualified for whipping his dogs with a wooden lath—limber and a couple inches wide. The dogs were examined by four veterinarians and given a clean bill of health.

The driver who broke his leg finished 44th. It’s amazing that he made it all the way to Nome before receiving medical attention. My dream is going to Nome one year, seeing the first team cross the finish line and then staying until the last team comes across and the driver received his red lantern.