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This weekend: Meet the mushers in Alaska's Iditarod
Posted by: JD Rinne, Wednesday, Mar 4, 2009, 10:01 AM

And we thought the weather in the Northeast was bad this week. On Saturday, 67 mushers will begin to compete in the Iditarod, Alaska's 1,131-mile dog-sled race, and temperatures during parts of the race could drop below zero. Brrr!


[+] Enlarge photo
(Courtesy dweekly/Flickr)
The Iditarod, a tradition since 1973, starts in Anchorage and traverses snow-covered tundra and barren terrain before ending in Nome, a city on the Bering Sea. (Some checkpoints along the way include Finger Lake, Eagle Island, Elim, and White Mountain).

Racers (and their teams of 16 dogs each) usually take between 10 and 14 days to finish the grueling race. Even though the winner gets a hero's welcome in Nome, the last to finish the race also gets an award—the Red Lantern. Longest time for the Red Lantern, ever? 32 days, 15 hours, 9 minutes, and 1 second. Ouch.

View the mushers on Saturday at the Campbell Creek Science Center in Anchorage for free. The site is about 7 miles outside of downtown Anchorage, where the teams will take off, and provides free parking, restrooms, exhibits, and warm drinks.

Follow the Iditarod virtually with the GPS Tracker for about $20.

Filed Under: adventure travel, alaska, anchorage, weekends
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