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2008 Iditarod 36

Iditarod racer's goal shifts to home

Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race veteran Lynda Plettner runs a 20-acre facility to house developmentally disabled Alaskans at Big Lake.

An Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race veteran who spent years tempering herself and her huskies for the long, hard trail to Nome has turned her energies to a new challenge: providing a healthy alternative home for adults with developmental disabilities.

Mackey will be a guest on 'Conan O'Brien'

Step aside Scott Gomez. Another Alaskan who makes his living on frozen water has invaded the Big Apple.

Iditarod goes Hollywood

Can Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race mushers Lance Mackey or Bruce Linton become household names across the nation like Captain Sig Hansen on the Discovery Channel's "Deadliest Catch," recently nominated for five Primetime Emmy Awards?

No ESPY for Mackey, but maybe a movie?

Usually, the number two is good to champion musher Lance Mackey.

Rush is on to mush in Iditarod

Mushers will start signing up for the 2009 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race this morning -- and they better have a fat checking account.

Iditarod entry fee up; purse gets cut

The entry fee for Alaska's Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is going up, the purse is coming down, and still race organizers expect the "Last Great Race" to remain so popular they need to limit the field.

Dog endurance changes racers' strategies

Iditarod mushers are discovering on the trail what scientists have suggested in the laboratory -- that sled dogs are capable of greater feats of endurance than anyone thought.

Iditarod 36 dogs

Lance Mackey leaves the Unalakleet checkpoint Sunday March 9, 2008. Mackey went on to win the 2008 Iditarod.

Celebrating the Iditarod athletes in front of the sled.

Iditarod musher King charged with illegal moose kill

Four-time Iditarod champ Jeff King has been charged in federal court with illegally killing a moose in Denali National Park and Preserve.

Iditarod mushers accept honors

For a time Monday, the start to the finish of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race for 62-year-old rookie Deborah Bicknell from Juneau was taking on hints of disaster.

Scdoris scratches in Koyuk

The third Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race was clearly not the charm for Rachael Scdoris, the vision-impaired musher from Oregon.

DAY 14

Nome teen makes it home

Melissa Owens of Nome, left, and her lead dog Yoda get a hug from her mom Pat Owens after finishing in 30th place in the 2008 Iditarod on Thursday, March 13.

Using trail markers as ski poles for the last 70 miles to ease the load for her six dogs remaining in harness, Iditarod rookie Melissa Owens got home Thursday morning just in time for breakfast.

Kleedehn is rookie of the year

Kleedehn is rookie of the year

William Kleedehn of Carcross, Yukon, claimed rookie-of-the year honors for his 28th place finish on Thursday.

DAY 13

Mackey's magical run in Iditarod, Quest

Hardworking blue-collar nice guy Lance Mackey from Fairbanks today owns the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race the way no one has since Doug Swingley at the dawn of the millennium.

Trail gambits throughout Iditarod history

Smyth leads Iditarod pack for third

Smyth leads Iditarod pack for third

While Lance Mackey charged onto Front Street for his second straight Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race victory, more than a dozen teams rested 70 miles away early Wednesday morning on the banks of the Fish River.

Trail gambits throughout Iditarod history

Some decisive events in Iditarod history

DAY 12 - MACKEY WINS THE IDITAROD

Mackey proves Iditarod/Quest wins no fluke

Iditarod sled dog musher Lance Mackey wins the Iditarod early Wednesday Morning March 12, 2008 crossing under the burled arch in Nome, AK. Mackey wins his second Iditarod in a row and the second time in a row he has won the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod in the same year.

Sled-dog racing pundits said it couldn't be done: Winning both the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest and the 1,100-mile Iditarod in one year, and both in little more than a month. But at 2:46 a.m. today, Lance Mackey and his dogs passed beneath the burled arch in Nome to do it again. Jeff King arrived in second place about 80 minutes later.

Drama plays out as rest of Top 10 finish

Front-running mushers stream across finish line

Buser takes a 130 mph detour

Drama plays out as rest of Top 10 finish

Canadian musher Sebastian Schnuelle, front, races Zack Steer, of Sheep Mountain, Alaska, up Front Street in Nome, Alaska, Wednesday, March 12, 2008, towards the finish of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Schnuelle finished 10th, and Steer finished 11th. (AP Photo/Al Grillo)

WHITE MOUNTAIN - While Lance Mackey charged onto Front Street for his second straight Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race victory, more than a dozen teams rested 70 miles away early Wednesday morning here on the banks of the Fish River.

Front-running mushers stream across finish line

Ken Anderson, of Fairbanks, Alaska, front, and four-time Iditarod champion Martin Buser race for fourth place up Front Street to the finish of Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Nome Alaska Wednesday morning March 12, 2008. Anderson beat Buser.

A pack of Iditarod mushers followed champion Lance Mackey and runner-up Jeff King across the Nome finish line this morning and early afternoon, creating a scrum for payouts as the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race finished for the frontrunners.

Buser takes a 130 mph detour

Driving his dogs at a blistering 130 mph into Ruby, Martin Buser on Friday was on pace to break his own race record in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. The only problem -- the four-time champion from Big Lake was headed back toward Willow.

DAY 11

Mackey leads into last Iditarod checkpoint

Defending champion Lance Mackey packs his sled as children watch as he gets ready to leave the White Mountain, Alaska checkpoint of Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Tuesday, March 11, 2008.

WHITE MOUNTAIN - With his dirty, red, arctic snowsuit stripped off and packed away in his sled, defending Iditarod champion Lance Mackey and his team off 11 Alaska huskies set off to run for Nome at 4:53 p.m.

Mackey pushes hard to keep King at bay

Mackey and King ready for stretch run

20 closest finishes in Iditarod history

Lead dog's ashes spread where he often ran best

Snowmachine kills team dog on Yukon

Mind games in play as leaders seek an edge

Mackey gains precious minutes on King

Lead dog's ashes spread where he often ran best

UNALAKLEET -- Feeling melancholy from pouring the ashes of his dead lead dog on the Yukon River, Paul Gebhardt dug deep for happiness late Saturday when he watched green northern lights dance in the sky.

DAY 10

King, Mackey prepare for final charge

Iditarod musher Lance Mackey struggles to pull off his wind pants at the Koyuk checkpoint Monday, March 10, 2008.

Defending Iditarod champion Lance Mackey and four-time victor Jeff King pulled into the Koyuk checkpoint early this afternoon just 130 miles from the finish line on Nome's Front Street and a monumental victory -- no matter which musher wins.

Mackey, King duke it out on last stretch

Snowmachine hits, kills Iditarod dog

King and Mackey leapfrog up the coast

DAY NINE

Veteran King grabs Iditarod lead

Iditarod musher Jeff King  drives his team down the Unalakleet River and into the Unalakleet checkpoint Sunday afternoon March 9, 2008. King arrived into the Bering Sea village in first place.

UNALAKLEET -- The morning fog lifted just hours before four-time Iditarod champion Jeff King rolled into this Bering Sea village to claim the lead for the first time in The Last Great Race.

Mackey looks to recapture winning formula

Iditarod dog dies, musher scratches

Mackey remains the leader, but King is closing on him

Lanier, 67, surprises Iditarod veterans

DAY EIGHT

Mackey trying to push, but King's closing

An Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race musher drives his team down the Yukon River between the Ruby, and Galena, Alaska, checkpoint on the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, Saturday, March 8, 2008.

Defending champion Lance Mackey pulled out of Nulato at 2:49 this afternoon, still leading the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. But four-time champion Jeff King of Denali Park, with his full complement of 16 dogs still in harness, was starting to close the gap.

King's advantage is in the dogs

At the front, Mackey pushes hard down Yukon

Let the banter begin

Takotna is a popular place

DAY SEVEN

Mackey first to head down the Yukon

Lance Mackey arrived first in the Yukon River checkpoint of Ruby on Friday morning, March 7.

Defending champion Lance Mackey pulled out of Ruby this afternoon to begin his run down the ice-covered Yukon River in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, hoping to put some distance between him and Jeff King's team of 16 energetic dogs.

King behind Mackey but likes his prospects

Mackey rolls into Ruby

Mackey leads pack headed for Ruby

Woes beset Mackey

Iditarod is no catwalk for rookie DeNure

DAY SIX

King makes push to take charge

Iditarod sled dog musher John Baker's team looks back at him at the Takotna checkpoint on Thursday Morning March 6. Baker checked in and immediately left the checkpoint.

Is Jeff King the real leader of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race? It was easy to make that argument after King, fresh off his 24-hour layover, pulled into Ophir at 5:06 p.m. Thursday with a full complement of 16 dogs in harness.

Jonrowe collects gold as Gebhardt strays

Swenson feels he can run with the best of them

Race leader is anybody's guess

Watch out! Here come King, Mackey, Backen

DAY FOUR

Lacking a Hobo, Mackey heads for McGrath

Canadian musher Karen Ramstead drives her dog team out of the Finger Lake, Alaska, checkpoint of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Monday, March 3, 2008.

Despite temperatures nearly tropical for hard-working dogs, defending champion Lance Mackey bolted out of Nikolai late Tuesday afternoon to grab the lead in the 36th Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Mackey leads charge across Burn

Norwegian first across Farewell Burn

Backen takes early Iditarod role as rabbit

Slowest mushers look at the bright side

DAY THREE

Mushers scoot as storm blows in

Cliff Roberson, of Corvallis, Ore., takes a break after pulling into the Finger Lake, Alaska checkpoint of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Monday, March 3, 2008.

With a storm pushing in fast from the south, the leaders in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race were wasting little time getting the historically worst stretch of the route behind them Monday.

Former champ Seavey moves to the front

The Norwegian Connection is back

Chase is on -- 5 mushers bound for Rainy Pass

DAY TWO: OFFICIAL RESTART

The real race begins: 78 reach Skwentna

Veteran Iditarod musher Ed Iten of Kotzebue drives his team across Willow Lake during the Iditarod Restart on Sunday, March 2, 2008.

WILLOW -- As the 95 mushers and thousand-plus dogs prepared to start the real running of the 36th Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Sunday, the sun broke through the clouds to lend a little light and warmth to the proceedings.

Annual Skwentna invasion won't be the same without the Delias

DAY ONE: CEREMONIAL START

Record 96 teams kick off Iditarod

The lead dogs of Iditarod musher Sven Haltmann barrel down the Cordova Street hill in Anchorage Saturday during the ceremonial start of the 2008 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Thousands of people lined Fourth Avenue in downtown and along the 11-mile route to Campbell Airstrip on Saturday to bid a record 96 Iditarod mushers farewell for their formidable winter journey across the wildest reaches of Alaska.

Iditarod mushers leave civilization behind

An adventure like no other begins

AnchorageMostly cloudy 35° (35°/26°)

Skwentna Snow 27° (27°/11°)

McGrath Flurries 6° (/-1°)

Kaltag Mostly cloudy 12° (12°/-2°)

Unalakleet Cloudy 18° (21°/)

Nome Cloudy 18° (15°/10°)

Photo galleries

Check out daily galleries from this year's race, and seven years worth of past Iditarods.

Iditarod 37 leaderboard

Track the race on the musher gallery leader board with updated results and standings.

2009 trail map

Track the mushers through the race with live standings and photo galleries along the southern route of the Iditarod trail.

Voices from the Trail

Audio interviews with the mushers along the Iditarod trail. Check back throughout the race for new clips.

Rural blog

Blogging about life and politics in rural Alaska.

Iditarod video library

Scenes and stories not only from this year's Iditarod, but from the off-season and past races.

Video: Dog drop

The race dogs unable to continue the Iditarod are flown back and returned to the mushers or cared for at Hiland Mountain Correctional Facility.

Susan Butcher memorial

This photo retrospective covers more than two decades of Iditarod racing.

Audio slide show

Watch and listen to veterans and rookies alike talk about what the Last Great Race means to them as they get ready for the start of the 36th Iditarod.

Cost of mushing

Find out what it costs just to get through the Iditarod.

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