Iditarod 37
As 34 mushers struggled toward the halfway-point of the first sled dog race to Nome, Joe Redington was in Anchorage, frantically trying to raisethe promised $50,000 purse.
After 100 years, the husky still reigns
In many ways, the evolution of Iditarod dogs repeats mushing history. A similar transformation occurred in Nome after the Gold Rush, whenmushers first began to race their freight teams.
He's a little old elf from Knik, disheveled and disorganized. His ideas can seem goofy, outlandish, even impossible. But his enthusiasm isinfectious, and he's not one to waste time discussing obstacles. They once called him the ''Don Quixote of Alaska.''
In the beginning was the struggle from which sprang the camaraderie of the Iditarod Trail and the fabled history yet to unfold.
The summer of 1996 found Iditarod contender DeeDee Jonrowe pounding the streets and trails of Anchorage and the Susitna Valley. A couple months earlier she had finished fifth in the state's most famous sled dog race.
Over the final miles of the 1985 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, when it was clear she was going to win, Libby Riddles mushed past a tiny Eskimo woman.
Mushers and dogs raced the first Iditarod over a trail with few rules, poor food, a single veterinarian and reports of 15 to 19 dead dogs. Rightaway, local animal protection groups expressed outrage.
Ask old-timers to describe trail conditions during the pioneer days of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race and they'll smile wryly, scratch theirwhiskers and say, "Trail, what trail?''
Out in the cold and dark of the first Iditarod, mushers on crude wooden sleds sought their way with weak flashlights, Coleman lanterns, evencandles.
Racing the clock -- and winning
When Martin Buser started talking about a 10-day Iditarod in the early 1990s, a lot of people figured maybe he'd spent a little too much timestaring at the tail ends of huskies.
Facing into a frigid torrent of wind, mushers Gary Whittemore and Terry Adkins struggled to cross frozen Norton Bay during the 1991 IditarodTrail Sled Dog Race. The worst blizzard in years had pinned them on the ice overnight.
Check out daily galleries from this year's race, and seven years worth of past Iditarods.
Track the race on the musher gallery leader board with updated results and standings.
Follow the mushers along the Iditarod trail's northern route, with live standings at each checkpoint.
Check out the The Last Great Race from the fans' perspective as readers post photos from every checkpoint along the Iditarod trail.
Armchair Musher: Sebastian Schnuelle
Musher Sebastian Schuelle will be following this year's Iditarod on snowmachine and writing about it for the ADN.
Follow the news and notes leading up to the Iditarod and, after the race begins, live from the trail.
Latest posts
Seavey on why he sued: 'I feel like I'm doing the right thing' 5/22 5:14 PM
Jonrowe wins dog care award; Mackey honored for sportsmanship 3/18 9:44 PM
Happy trails 3/16 2:47 PM
Third-place Ramey Smyth: 'I almost didn't get to the start line' 3/16 7:15 AM
Meet the Sled Dogs: Colleen & Penny 3/15 7:09 PM
Iditarod champion Dallas Seavey greets Aliy Zirkle in Nome after she finished in second place, an hour behind Seavey.
Happy mushers make for happy dogs. And vice versa, Iditarod racers say. Iditarod musher Brent Sass and Armchair Musher Sebastian Schnuelle explain it.
Race leaders Aliy Zirkle and Dallas Seavey talk about their race strategy in the last half of the Iditarod.
Scott Janssen's dog Marshall, who was resuscitated by Janssen on the trail, has a homecoming in Anchorage.
While resting at the Takotna checkpoint, 2011 Iditarod champion John Baker talks about whether Aliy Zirkle could win the race, what fans should make of the pace and how you might catch him dancing to 80s music on the dog sled.
We asked Dan Seavey who has the faster team, Seavey's son Mitch or his grandson, Dallas.
Iditarod rookie Matt Failor was the last musher to leave the Skwentna checkpoint on Monday morning. Failor, from Mansfield, Ohio, explains why it's all part of the plan and why doesn't expect to stay in last place for long.
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