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Here is an article on the  Alaskan Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race ~

Checkout my Iditarod Webpage for 2010 race information. Here you will find weather reports and the top ten mushers who left the checkpoint.

Here is another link to Iditarod information ~ Iditarod News

I have followed the Iditarod for some time now. The race has ALWAYS amazed me how man and dog become one and travel over 1100 miles to Nome, Alaska. The mushers who race in the Iditarod are every day people. Their names are familiar only to those who follow the race. They come from all over the world, but the majority are from Alaska. They are men and women and are as young as 18 years old.

They are cancer survivors, blind, and have a single leg. The mushers are full of determination and a deep affection for the dogs that lead them into Nome. It's been said by one musher that it's not a race about money, no one gets rich by running in the Iditarod. My interpretation as to why  people chose to run in the sled dog race has more to do  with proving they can do it, for the love of the country and outdoors they will cross.

For me, my interest began with the amazement of the race, but I have only become more interested after learning the history of the Iditarod.

The race is designed after the 1925 a diphtheria epidemic in Nome, Alaska. An antitoxin needed to get to isolated Nome in order to save the small mining town. The only reliable transportation was the dog sled. Norwegian Gunnar Kassan and his lead dog Balto arrived in Nome on February 2, five days after Dr. Welsh sent out an SOS requesting serum be brought to Nome. 

here is a picture of Balto. His statue was erected in Central Park, New York City in 1925.

Photo Credit: unknown ~ taken from Wikipedia