Week's End: Watching the Iditarod
By Steve Krehl
Friday, March 7, 2008 12:27 PM PST
The Iditarod sled dog race is off and running in Alaska.
It started last weekend and will run all this week, ending about 1,100 miles from the starting line.
I saw the start of the race a couple of times when I lived just north of Anchorage.
The first year I had just moved there the week before and had no time to adjust to the cold having come from Arizona.
My son was with me, and we were both curious as to what this dog race was all about.
The hotel we were staying at had several dog teams, and their trucks in the parking lot were full of dogs.
The mushers kept their dogs in what they called “dog boxes” attached to the bed of the trucks.
The boxes’ only comfort for the dogs was straw. Now, in case you think that’s cruel, you’re as wrong as I was.
The dogs loved being in the dog box, as it was where they were raised. After pulling a dog sled, it was the second thing they liked best.
When I saw how many dogs there were in the hotel’s parking lot I considered moving to another location. When I spoke to one of the locals, they informed us that we would not find a room anywhere nearby because of the race. We decided to hang tight and see what happened during the night.
I was very surprised as I didn’t hear any of the dogs barking once they were put down for the night.
Both of us were looking forward to seeing this strange sporting event. The reason it is called a sporting event is the dogs are considered athletes. First, they are not large dogs and look more like house pets until you see them run.
Like most of us, I thought they’d look more like the traditional husky, which they are not. They are built for endurance more than speed. I do have to say I had a ride on a dog sled and was surprised how fast they are.
On the day of the start we bundled up with what little warm clothes we had and headed out to see the race begin.
If memory serves me, there were 70 plus teams, and each sled left a few minutes apart. It wasn’t the best location to see much of the race, but we were given directions by folks at our office to a better spot.
It was on a lake, which was frozen solid, and you could see several teams go by at one time. We hung in there for as long as we could stand the cold and headed back to the warm hotel.
The next year we had friends show up from Louisiana who not only watched the start, but also went to the finish at Nome. On their way back, they stopped in to see us and said they had a great time and would do it again (and they did).
Me, I never did thaw out enough to want to go somewhere that was colder than where we lived.
I guess when the Iditarod rolls around every year we’ll always follow it.
Have a great weekend and keep it in play.
Steve Krehl is the publisher of the Argus Observer. He can be contacted at SteveK@argusobserver.com
