Men and women go head to head in world's toughest race | Working ...

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And cancer survivors think nothing of it!

It has become a tradition that mushers who have had cancer celebrate survival by doing something extraordinary ? and none more extraordinary than Lance Mackey, cancer survivor and record four-times consecutive winner of the Iditarod.

The Iditarod has 66 mushers and 4,356 sled dogs charging across the snows of Alaska ? and won?t stop until the racers have covered over one thousand miles each.

For the next 8 or more days, they will be racing their 16-dog teams in extreme conditions, with women fighting alongside men ? and no let up.

It?s all about the dogs;? they have to have their prescribed rest periods, but the mushers will probably spend their rest time mixing dog food, changing the teflon boots the dogs have to wear to protect their paws from frozen shards of ice, and rubbing cream into their paws (I kid you not).

They run through temperatures many degrees below freezing.? This year, at the start as the contestants set off, the temperature was a mild 25?.? This has already caused a change of route, but conditions are expected to get colder and might reach -50 or -60.? This will please the dogs, however;? the colder it is, the more they like running.

This year amongst the 66 entrants there are many famous dog-sledding family names, and of course 4-times winner and cancer survivor Lance Mackey.? Closely followed by DeeDee Jonrowe, double mastectomy survivor who makes sure her team is booted up in pink bootees.? Other mushers like John Baker will be running to spread the message that smoking is not a good idea, etc.

Amongst those to look out for are:
Jim? Lanier from? Chugiak,? Alaska;?? John? Baker (last year?s winner);???? Aliy? Zirkle ? noted women musher:? Iditarod is? only major international race where men and women are equal;?? another woman:? DeeDee? Jonrowe;? Lance? Mackey (record consecutive four-times winner);?? Sigrid? Ekran from? Norway; Dallas? Seavey (another one from noted family);? Mitch Seavey (same family);?? Martin? Buser: another Norwegian? Silvia? Furtw?ngler; Rick? Swenson;? Curt? Perano from New Zealand; and? Dan? Seavey and Ryan Redington from famous Iditarod families.

Follow the race on www.iditarod.com

How did it start?

The Iditarod is the name of the trail used by miners, prospectors and supply trains across the Alaska snows.?? It probably got its name from the local Athabascan language, and? it is name of one of the villages on the trail.

Before planes, the only way in and out was by dog sled, and these were big business.? Sometimes the sled trains could harness as many as 60 dogs to carry the loads, so vast were the loads they hauled.

Probably the most famous run ever accomplished by a sled dog team was the great Diptheria Serum race.? In 1925 the town of Nome was hit by diptheria (a disease with almost 100% mortality) and on January 22, Dr. Welch sent a radio telegram alerting the governor in Juneau of the public health risk :? ? An epidemic of diphtheria is almost inevitable here STOP I am in urgent need of one million units of diphtheria antitoxin STOP Mail is only form of transportation STOP I have made application to Commissioner of Health of the Territories for antitoxin already STOP

Planes couldn?t fly because of weather, so a team of 20 mushers with 150 dogs volunteered to take serum to the town.

The statue shows Balto, one of the lead dogs used in this relay? ( erected to him in New York?s Central Park).?? Many people

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think Togo, another fantastic lead dog, should have been commemorated, but the New York?? statue shows Balto wearing Togo?s harness.

The team relayed the diptheria antitoxin 674 miles (1,085 km) across? Alaska in a record-breaking five and a half days, saving the small city of Nome and the surrounding communities from an epidemic that would have been deadly.

One of the most famous mushers in this team was the Norwegian Leonhard Seppala, winner of many dog sled races, with his lead dog Togo.

First musher off in the relay was ?Wild Bill? Shannon, handed the serum package at the train station in Nenana on January 27 at 2100.? Weather conditions were so cold that Shannon developed hypothermia, before handing the serum on.

With the temperature dropping to ? 70 degrees, conditions were dire on the relay, and some dogs died of frostbite.

By January 30, the number of cases in Nome had reached 27 and it was reported? ?All hope is in the dogs and their heroic drivers? Nome appears to be a deserted city.?? The teams battled on, but Henry Ivanoff ran into a reindeer and got tangled up just outside of Shaktoolik. But eventually Seppala picked up the precious serum, and raced into history, arriving at the roadhouse in Isaac?s Point at 8 PM. In one day, they had traveled 84 mi (135 km), averaging 8 mph (13 km/h). The team rested, and departed at at 2 AM into the full power of a storm. They climbed Little McKinley Mountain (5,000 feet ) and at? Golovin, Seppala passed the serum to Charlie Olsen on February 1 at 3 PM.

Olsen was blown off the trail, and suffered severe frostbite in his hands while putting blankets on his dogs. The wind chill was -70 ?F . He arrived at Bluff on February 1 in poor shape. Gunnar Kaasen waited until 10 PM for the storm to break, but it only got worse and the drifts would soon block the trail so he departed into a headwind.

Kaasen traveled through the night, through drifts, and river overflow, but his lead dog? Balto led the team through visibility so poor that Kaasen could not always see the dogs harnessed closest to the sled.? He? reached Point Safety ahead of schedule on February 2, at 3 AM. Ed Rohn believed that Kaasen and the relay was halted at Solomon, so he was sleeping. Since the weather was improving, it would take time to prepare Rohn?s team, and Balto and the other dogs were moving well, Kaasen pressed on the remaining 25 miles (40 km) to Nome, reaching Front Street at 5:30 AM. Not a single ampule was broken, and the antitoxin was thawed and ready by noon.

Together, the teams covered the 674 miles (1,085 km) in 127 and a half hours, which was considered a world record, in extreme sub-zero temperatures in near-blizzard conditions and hurricane-force winds. Sasdly it was so cold that some dogs froze to death during the trip.

By February 3, the epidemic was under control. On February 8 the first half of a second serum shipment began its trip by dog sled relay, and included many of the same drivers, and also faced harsh conditions. The serum arrived on February 15.? Forty-three new cases were diagnosed in 1926, but they were easily managed with the fresh supply of serum.

All participants received letters of commendation from President Calvin Coolidge, and the Senate stopped work to recognize the event. Each musher during the first relay received a gold medal from the H. K. Mulford company, and the territory awarded them each USD $25. Poems and letters from children poured in, and spontaneous fund raising campaigns sprang up around the country.

Many mushers today consider Seppala and Togo to be the true heroes of the run as together they covered the longest and most hazardous leg. They made a round trip of 261 miles (420 km) from Nome to Shaktoolik and back to Golovin, and delivered the serum a total of 91 miles (146 km), almost double the distance of any other team.

In October 1926, Seppala took Togo and his team on a tour to the States and consistently drew huge crowds. Togo received a gold medal from Roald Amundsen, first man at the South Pole.? In New England Seppala?s team of Siberian huskies ran in many races, easily defeating the local Chinooks. Seppala sold most of his team to a kennel in Poland Spring, Maine and most huskies in the U.S. can trace their descent from one of these dogs.? After his death, Seppala had Togo preserved and mounted, and today the dog is on display in a glass case at the Iditarod museum in Wasilla, Alaska.

The serum race helped the Kelly Act, which was signed into law on February 2. The bill allowed private aviation companies to bid on mail delivery contracts. Technology improved and in a decade, air mail routes were established in Alaska. The last private dog sled to deliver mail under contract took place in 1938, and the last U.S. Post Office dog sled route closed in 1963. Dog sledding remained in the rural Interior but became nearly extinct when snowmobiles spread in the 1960s. Mushing was revitalized as a recreational sport in the 1970s with the immense popularity of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race

which runs more than 1,000 miles (1,600 km) across from Anchorage to Nome, is actually based on the All-Alaska Sweepstakes, it has many traditions which commemorate the race, and especially Seppala and Togo. The honorary musher for the first seven races was Leonhard Seppala. Other serum run participants, including ?Wild Bill? Shannon, Edgar Kallands, Bill McCarty, Charlie Evans, Edgar Nollner, Harry Pitka, and Henry Ivanoff have also been honored. The 2005 Iditarod honored Jirdes Winther Baxter, the last known survivor of the epidemic. The position is now known as Leonhard Seppala?s Honorary Musher, and the Leonhard Seppala Humanitarian Award is given to the musher who provides the best dog care while still remaining competitive, and the Leonhard Seppala Heritage Grant is an Iditarod scholarship. The two races follow the same route from Ruby to Nome.

http://www.litsite.org/index.cfm?section=Digital-Archives&page=Land-Sea-Air&cat=Dog-Mushing&viewpost=

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Source: http://workingdogbooks.com/2012/03/men-and-women-go-head-to-head-in-worlds-toughest-race/

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