iditablog 06: Live, from….not Anchorage

0Josh • 4th Mar 2006 • blog entries, Iditarod

So today is it….the big day that I’ve been waiting a year for: the start of the Iditarod Dog sled race. Last year when we were in Alaska working for radio station KICY, I was able to cover the race for the station, even flying out to the beginning of the race in Anchorage, and a checkpoint out in the bush. This, and all other Iditarod related posts will be mirrored on my Iditarod website, iditablog.com.

I know there are probably many who don’t know about the Iditarod, so lets consider this Iditarod 101:

The race starts in Anchorage, runs through ghost towns, mountain ranges, Eskimo villages, and lots of wilderness for a total of about 23 checkpoints to finish in Nome. The race is just over 1,000 miles total. This year, 82 mushers will compete in the “last great race”. Each team starts with 12 dogs (that means at the start of the race, there are almost 1000 dogs within the 4 block radius of the starting line). Each musher can drop a dog at any checkpoint if they are sick or injured, but has to finish in Nome with at least half the team. In about 9 or 10 days the first musher will pass under the finish “arch” in Nome, and up to 6 days later the last musher will arrive in Nome.

I’m going to be reporting each day from results that I find on the internet and from the live updates that are posted on iditarodinsider.com. Its kinda lame, but for an Iditarod junkie like me, hopefully it will get me through this race until I can be back up in the great white north in a year or two. I’ll also be posting back links to the audio that I recorded last year on the race, while some of it might be year specific, relistening to most of it this past week myself, there is also some pretty interesting stuff in there as well.

I’ll be back later this evening with a re-cap of the ceremonial start this morning, and a look ahead at this years race.

Me Reporting Last Year:
Me Reporting This Year: