Word: mushers
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...epic challenge for man and man's best friend: the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, which begins Saturday, is a grueling 1,150-mile trek in which a human captain (or musher) and an average of 16 dogs brave Alaska's frozen tundra and icy forests to compete for $69,000, a new truck, and the honor of conquering one of the country's last frontiers...
...sport and a vital necessity. In the winter of 1925, an epidemic of diphtheria ravaged Nome, which lacked the medicine to combat it. The nearest supply of antitoxin serum was in Anchorage-nearly 700 frozen miles away. In what has become known as the "Great Race of Mercy," 20 mushers and some 150 dogs teamed up to deliver the drugs in under six days, quelling an epidemic that threatened to decimate the town. Balto, the lead dog on the final stretch of the relay, earned national acclaim - and a statue that still stands in New York City's Central Park...
That lackluster turnout failed to dissuade Page and venerable musher Joe Redington Sr., who mortgaged his home and sold a piece of land to help finance the event's start-up costs. Their efforts helped persuade officials to stage the first full-length Iditarod in March, 1973, in which Dick Wilmarth and his lead dog, Hotfoot, triumphed by covering the inhospitable terrain in 20 days. Since 1983, the Iditarod - the word is said to mean "distant place" in indigenous Alaskan dialects - has steadily grown in popularity, becoming both the most popular sporting event in the state and an international touchstone...
...together have placed an entrant in every race since the event's inception; and four-time winners Susan Butcher and Martin Buser, who owns the record for the event's fastest recorded time (8 days, 22 hrs. and 46 mins). To prepare for the rigors of the journey, mushers spend months prepping their dogs, who are subject to drug screenings and tracked using collar tags and microchips implanted under the skin. And while the competition is intense, participation counts: organizers present the last-place musher with the "Red Lantern" award as a tribute to his persistence. (The slowest Red Lantern...
...race has predictably drawn fire from animal rights groups like PETA and the ASPCA, attention that only worsened after veteran musher Ramy Brooks was given a two-year ban in 2007 for abusing his dogs. But most Alaskans steadfastly defend the event as a celebration of the state's heritage. This year, the greatest threats posed to the race come from other directions. A heavy snow recently blanketed parts of the Alaska, burying the trail in deep drifts and forcing mushers to break out their snowshoes. And just as it has in the Lower 48 states, the economy has cast...