mush!

The Iditarod, the annual sled dog race celebrating Alaska’s official state sport, held its ceremonial start in Anchorage on March 2 and officially began today. The Iditarod mushers and their dogs battle the elements and test their limits across the trail which covers almost 1,000 miles of challenging terrain from south central Alaska to Nome. Most of the race utilizes a trail that was in place long before the Iditarod was a sled dog race. The Iditarod Trail has its origins at the turn of the twentieth century, when it was used firstly by Native Alaskans for hunting and traveling, and then cleared by government employees in 1908. In an era where airplanes did not exist, dog teams were tasked with delivering mail and packages to remote areas of Alaska. 

Mushing became a popular winter sport among locals in the first half of the 1900s, popularized by the 1925 serum run to Nome (also called The Great Race of Mercy). A large diphtheria epidemic threatened the inhabitants of Nome and the required antitoxin was almost a thousand miles away in Anchorage. Sled dogs were used as the only reliable way to get the antitoxin from Anchorage to Nome, and a team of one hundred dogs were able to relay the package over a distance of 674 miles. Balto ran the last leg of the serum run. A bronze statue commemorating Balto’s run stands in New York’s Central Park. 

By 1973, dog teams in the small Alaskan Native villages were becoming replaced by snow machines nicknamed iron dogs. Joe Redington, Sr lived in Alaska and spent much time using dog teams himself in his work, and thought it important to preserve the culture of sled dogs and their use in Alaska. The snow machines were not reliable and could leave one stranded, whereas dogs were always reliable and could save lives. He also thought it was important for the Iditarod Trail to be recognized as a National Historic Trail. These two factors led Joe to work to establish The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, contrary to information stating that the Iditarod commemorates the delivery of diphtheria antitoxin to Nome in 1925. That event of 1925 is honored by a different sled dog race, the Serum Run, a race Joe helped establish.