Bruce Linton's lead dogs charge down the trail just after the ceremonial start of the 2010 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
It has been called the “Last Great Race on Earth” and it has won worldwide acclaim and interest.
A race over 1,150 miles of the roughest, most beautiful terrain including jagged mountain ranges, frozen rivers, dense forest, desolate tundra and miles of windswept coast. Add to that temperatures far below zero, winds that can cause a complete loss of visibility, long hours of darkness and treacherous climbs and side hills, and you have the Iditarod.
Kristy Berington and her team.
From Anchorage, in south central Alaska, to Nome on the western Bering Sea coast, each team of 12 to 16 dogs and their musher cover over 1,150 miles in 10 to 17 days.
This year 71 mushers and their powerful sled dog teams got a festive send-off in downtown Anchorage on Saturday 6th March for a 10-mile (16-km) ceremonial run with cheering, well-bundled spectators lining the way. The official timed race began on Sunday.
Former Iditarod champion Jeff King charges down the trail just after the official start.
The more famous competitors, such as four-time champions Martin Buser and Jeff King and three-time champion Lance Mackey, signed autographs, passed out dog booties and other souvenirs and posed with fans for photographs.
Jason Barron's team.
Expect the "usual suspects," including past champions, to be contending for this year's title, said Mitch Seavey, winner of the 2004 race. "Some of the younger guys are going to be a factor."
Wattie McDonald's team dressed in tartan.
Other mushers had more modest goals. First-time Iditarod competitor Wattie McDonald, from Stonehaven, Scotland, said he hoped to reach Nome in 12 days, "with a healthy team of dogs and, obviously, with me in one piece."
Another rookie musher drawing attention was Newton Marshall, the first Iditarod competitor from Jamaica. Fans, many wearing "Rootin' for Newton" buttons, and camera crews crowded around him at the downtown Anchorage start.
Newton Marshall reaches out to fans along the chute after the official start of the race.
John Baker leaves the Nikolai checkpoint in third place.
The route encompasses large metropolitan areas and small native villages. It causes a yearly spurt of activity, increased plane traffic and excitement to areas otherwise quiet and dormant during the long Alaskan winter. Everyone gets involved.
Jeff King puts booties on Titian as he gets ready to leave Nikolai in first place on day 4.
Every musher has a different tactic. Each one has a special menu for feeding the dogs. Each one has a different strategy — some run in the daylight, some run at night. Each one has a different training schedule and his own ideas on dog care, dog stamina and his own personal ability.
Musher Dave DeCaro's lead dogs round Cordova corner.
The rules of the race lay out certain regulations which each musher must abide by. There are certain pieces of equipment each team must have — an arctic parka, a heavy sleeping bag, an axe, snowshoes, musher food, dog food and boots for each dog’s feet to protect against cutting ice and hard-packed snow injuries.
Sam Deltour of Belgium and his team .
Some mushers spend an entire year getting ready and raising the money needed to get to Nome. Some prepare around a full-time job. In addition to planning the equipment and feeding needs for up to three weeks on the trail, hundreds of hours and hundreds of miles of training have to be put on each team
A handler for Jessie Royer unloads dogs to feed them.
The Iditarod winner will collect a prize of $50,000 and a new pickup truck. The winner is expected in Nome in mid-March; the race record is eight days, 22 hours and 46:02 minutes, set by Martin Buser in 2002
One of Colleen Robertia's dogs awaits the go-ahead.
Lance Mackey, winner of the Iditarod for the last three years, reaches out to fans.
Musher Kirk Barnum leaves the start line.
The Iditarod Trail, now a National Historic Trail, had its beginnings as a mail and supply route from the coastal towns to the interior mining camps. Mail and supplies went in. Gold came out. All via dog sled.
Jason Barron puts coats on his team after arriving at the Nikolai checkpoint.
In 1925, part of the Iditarod Trail became a life saving highway for epidemic-stricken Nome. Diphtheria threatened and serum had to be brought in; again by intrepid dog mushers and their faithful hard-driving dogs. The Iditarod is a commemoration of those days.
Four-time Iditarod champion Martin Buser rests on his sled.
Via: Telegraph
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