IDITAROD'S HISTORY

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IDITAROD'S HISTORY
Conor Dragomanovich March 14, 2001 Per. 3
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"The Last Great Race"
Before the Iditarod, the Iditarod trail was
used a a postal route. The Iditarod dog sled
race first took place in Nome in 1973. After
only two short races which covered only part of
the Iditarod trail in 1967 and 1969, the idea of
having a race over the entire Iditarod trail was
thought up Dorothy G. Page. Dorothy was amazed
that those dog teams traveled over land that no
automobile could. In the 1920s settlers used
the very same trail to get to the gold fields.
In the winter the only way to travel was by dog
team.
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But very soon all the gold mining began to
decrease. Pretty much all the people had gone
back to their homes and the Iditarod trail was
being used less and less. And then in the late
1920s the airplanes advent began the end of
the dog team as a standard use of transportation.
The airplane carried the mail so the dog team was
not needed as much, and finally the snow mobile
came out to finish the sled dogs wide spread
use. So by the mid 1960s no one really knew
there was an Iditarod trail at all or that it had
played an important part in our history.
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IDITAROD TRAIL RENEWED
When the people had nearly forgotten about the
sled dogs along came a woman by the name of
Dorothy G. Page. She saw what was happening and
saw the important role the sled dogs play in
Alaskas history. So she discussed the
possibility of a race over the Iditarod trail
with a man named Joe Reddington who was a Musher
from the Knik area.
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Very soon Dorothy and Joe started promoting the
idea of the Iditarod race to the extent that Joe
and Vi moved from the Knik area. The Aurora Dog
Mushers Club helped clear years of weeds and
plants and all sorts of overgrowth from the first
9 miles of the Iditarod trail just in time to
put on the first ever short Iditarod sled dog
race.
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Anchorage to Nome
The first race was only 27 miles but people from
all over Alaska raced and one even came from
Oklahoma. In 1973 it was decided to go 1000 more
miles to Nome. Although there were many people
who believed that it was insane to send a bunch
of mushers through Alaskas vast wilderness,
they still put on the race. About 22 mushers
finished the race that year and to this day there
have been about 400 finishers. Mushers have come
from all over the world with their dogs to race.
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Dorothy Page also known as The Mother of the
Iditarod stated that she wanted the Iditarod to
be the same 50 years from now and more. She
wants to keep the pioneer spirit alive and she
says that this is a true Alaskan sport. .
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The Last Great Race started in Anchorage in
1983 and thats where it starts today. The 29th
annual Iditarod trail race started on March 7,
2001 and the same original regulations still
apply to racers. I think that the only thing
that has changed in the race is the advancing
technology.
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The Iditarod trail started out as nothing but a
postal route , then it was a gold mining trail
and after that, years later, it finally became
the last and best race on earth. I think it
reminds people of hard work and the pioneer
spirit. Even today the race still runs and the
champion of this years Iditarods Sled Dog Race
was none other than the three time consecutive
winner Doug Swingly.