The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, more commonly known as The Iditarod, is an annual long-distance sled dog race held in Alaska in early March. It travels from Anchorage to Nome. Mushers and a team of between 12 and 16 dogs, of which at least 5 must be on the towline at the finish line, cover the distance in 8–15 days or more. The Iditarod began in 1973 as an event to test the best sled dog mushers and teams but evolved into today's highly competitive race.
Doug Swingley is an American dog musher and dog sled racer who lives in Lincoln, Montana, and is a four-time winner of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race across Alaska. His first Iditarod was in 1992. His first victory came in 1995 and he followed it by winning in 1999, 2000, and 2001. He competed in every Iditarod from 1992 to 2002, and during his rookie outing he won the Dorothy G. Page Halfway award, for being the first musher to reach the halfway point of the race. He is the only winner from the lower 48 states and second in number of wins. Prior to his Iditarod wins, he also won the Montana Race to the Sky in 1991.
The Iditarod Trail, also known historically as the Seward-to-Nome Trail, is a thousand-plus mile (1,600 km) historic and contemporary trail system in the US state of Alaska. The trail began as a composite of trails established by Alaskan native peoples. Its route crossed several mountain ranges and valleys and passed through numerous historical settlements en route from Seward to Nome. The discovery of gold around Nome brought thousands of people over this route beginning in 1908. Roadhouses for people and dog barns sprang up every 20 or so miles. By 1918 World War I and the lack of 'gold fever' resulted in far less travel. The trail might have been forgotten except for the 1925 diphtheria outbreak in Nome. In one of the final great feats of dog sleds, twenty drivers and teams carried the life-saving serum 674 miles (1,085 km) in 127 hours. Today, the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race serves to commemorate the part the trail and its dog sleds played in the development of Alaska, and the route and a series of connecting trails have been designated Iditarod National Historic Trail.
The Yukon Quest, formally the Yukon Quest 1,000-mile International Sled Dog Race, is a sled dog race scheduled every February since 1984 between Fairbanks, Alaska, and Whitehorse, Yukon, switching directions each year. Because of the harsh winter conditions, difficult trail, and the limited support that competitors are allowed, it is considered the "most difficult sled dog race in the world", or even the "toughest race in the world"—"even tougher, more selective and less attention-seeking than the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race." The originator envisioned it as "a race so rugged that only purists would participate."
Jeff King is an American musher and sled dog racer. He is generally credited with introducing the sit-down sled which has largely replaced the standing sled traditionally used by distance mushers.
The ceremonial start of the 33rd annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race across the US state of Alaska began in Anchorage on March 5, 2005, at 10 am AKST, and restarted in Willow the next day at 2 pm. After covering 1,161 miles (1,868 km) of wilderness, musher Robert Sørlie, an airport firefighter from Norway, crossed the finish line under the "burled arch" in Nome on March 16 at 8:39 am AKST. After taking care of his dogs, and an inspection to make sure all the mandatory equipment was in his sled, Sørlie was declared the winner by Race Marshal Mark Norman, with a time of 9 days, 18 hours, 39 minutes, and 31 seconds and won US$72,066.67 and a new truck. When asked how it felt to win a second time, Sørlie said "it feels good, I'm ready for breakfast." His team of dogs averaged 4.65 mi/h (7.58 km/h). The Red Lantern in last was Phil Morgan, an Alaska Airlines pilot, and when he crossed the finish line on March 21 at 8:02 pm AKST, the Widow's Lantern hanging on the burled arch was extinguished, which signaled the end of the race.
The Junior Iditarod Sled Dog Race, or Jr. Iditarod, is a 148- to 158-mile sled dog race for mushers between the ages of 14 through 17, which is patterned after the 1,150-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race that is said to be 1,049 miles (1,688.2 km). The race is held outside Anchorage in the U.S. state of Alaska, and was the first long-distance race for juvenile mushers.
The ceremonial start of the 34th annual (XXXIV) Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race across the U.S. state of Alaska began amidst the crowds of Anchorage on March 4, 2006, and the start of the competitive race, or "restart", began the next day in Willow. The race followed a modified version of the northern route for 1,151 mi (1,852 km) across the Alaska Range, through the sparsely inhabited Interior, along the Yukon River, and then up the coast of the Bering Sea to the city of Nome. Unlike in previous years, where the teams had to deal with unseasonably warm temperatures and soft, mushy snow, the weather was cold, with temperatures reported as low as −40 °F (−40 °C).
The ceremonial start of the 35th annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race across the U.S. state of Alaska began amidst the crowds of Anchorage at 10 am (AKST) on March 3, 2007, and the start of the competitive race, or "restart", began at 2 pm the next day in Willow. The race followed the southern route for 1,151 mi (1,852 km) across the Alaska Range, through the sparsely inhabited Interior, along the Yukon River, and then up the coast of the Bering Sea to the city of Nome.
The Tustumena 200 Sled Dog Race is a dog sled race on the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska covering 200 miles. Established in 1983, the race is run each year on the last weekend in January, and has grown in reputation to draw competitive distance mushers from Alaska, the lower 48, and international locations. The Tustumena 200 boasts one of the highest purses for a dog sled race in its class. The minimum guaranteed purse is $25,000 and has been as high as $30,000. The Bogus Creek 150, a companion event to the Kuskokwim 300, based in Bethel, Alaska, has a guaranteed annual purse of $60,000.
Iditarod: Toughest Race on Earth is a 2008 American reality television miniseries on the Discovery Channel that featured the 2008 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska.
The 38th Annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race saw 71 participating teams from the United States, Jamaica, Canada and United Kingdom. The ceremonial start was held in Anchorage on March 6. The official restart was held one day later in Willow.
Dallas Seavey is an American dog musher, and is the only musher to win the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race across the U.S. state of Alaska six times: in 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2021, and 2024. In 2011, Seavey competed in and won the Yukon Quest sled dog race. In 2018 and 2019, Seavey also competed in Europe's longest sled dog race, Norway's Finnmarkslopet.
Brent Sass is an American dog musher who is one of only six people to have won both the Iditarod and Yukon Quest sled dog races.
The 2019 Iditarod is the 47th iteration of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race held in Alaska. The race began on March 2, 2019, in Anchorage, Alaska, and ended on March 18, 2019, in Nome, Alaska.
The 2020 Iditarod is the 48th iteration of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Alaska. The race began on Saturday, March 7, 2020, in Anchorage, Alaska and was won by Thomas Waerner on March 18, in Nome. There was 58 mushers signed up to participate, including former champions and noted racers Robert Bundtzen, Martin Buser, Peter Kaiser, Lance Mackey, Nicolas Petit, Mitch Seavey, Joar Leifseth Ulsom, and Aliy Zirkle. The race started before Alaska's first coronavirus case on March 13, and after that incident, checkpoints were relocated or eliminated and gathering in Nome for the finish was discouraged.
The 2022 Iditarod was the 50th running of the annual dog sled race. The competition began on March 5 with its ceremonial start in Anchorage. All mushers were required to be vaccinated for COVID-19.
The 2023 Iditarod was the 51st edition of the Iditarod, an annual sled dog race in the U.S. state of Alaska. It began on March 4, 2023, with a ceremonial 11-mile (18 km) start in Anchorage, Alaska. The official 1,000-mile (1,600 km) race began the following day in Willow, Alaska, and ended 9 to 10 days later in Nome, Alaska. It used the southern route of the Iditarod Trail for the first time since the 2019 edition.
The 2024 Iditarod is the 52nd year of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, an annual sled dog race in the U.S. state of Alaska. It began on March 3, 2024.
