Iditarod To Begin Today

The 40th running of the Iditarod, “The Last Great Race” is set to start today at 10am Alaska Time, 2pm Eastern, with the ceremonial start in downtown Anchorage. The actual race begins Sunday at 2pm AKT, 6pm ET, in Willow.

Things of note:

Brothers Ray Redington, Jr. and Ryan Redington, grandsons' of Joe Redington, the “Father of the Iditarod”, bookend the field, starting first and last, respectively.

Veteran Kristy Berington starts two positions in front of her twin sister, rookie Anna.

Dallas Seavey starts immediately in front of his father, Mitch. Mitch’s father, Dan, is starting 64th. Dan is the only musher running this year who also ran in the inaugural race in 1973. And the youngest of Mitch’s sons, Conway Seavey, the winner of the 2012 Junior Iditarod, will drive the first sled during the ceremonial start that carries this year’s honorary musher Dave Olson, who cleared trail for the 1973 and 1974 races.

66 mushers are entered. 49 male, 17 female. 51 veterans. 15 rookies, 9 male and 6 female. 52 teams are from Alaska, 7 from the lower 48 states, 4 from Canada and 3 are international – 2 from Norway and one New Zealand.

John Baker set the record for the fastest time to Nome last year, finishing in 8 days, 18 hours, 46 minutes and 39 seconds.
The record for the Northern Route (run in even years) was set by Martin Buser in 2002 at 8 days, 22 hours, 46 minutes and 2 seconds.

This year the race runs the Northern Route, measured to be around 975 miles.


SUGGESTED LINKS:
Official Iditarod Sites
http://iditarod.com/
http://iditarod.com/race/current-standings/
http://www.iditarodforums.com/index.php
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Iditarod-Trail-Committee/112545578798091

Mushing Loon Pages
https://www.facebook.com/mushing.loon
http://mushingloon.blogspot.com/

Alaska News Outlets
http://www.adn.com/iditarod/
http://www.ktuu.com/sports/iditarod/
http://newsminer.com/pages/sports_iditarod
http://www.alaskadispatch.com/section/iditarod-2011

Blogs, Websites, Facebook
http://www.mushing.com/index.php
http://northernlightmedia.com/
http://gomush.com/
http://www.iditablog.com/
http://backstage-iditarod.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Husky-Productions/185581807454

On the Scene Reports
Joe Runyan http://www.facebook.com/jrunyan1989
Sebastian Schnuelle http://www.facebook.com/sebastianschnuelle

Contact me for many, many others.

2012 IDITAROD STARTING ORDER:
Bib Numbers (X)
Rookie {R}
(Bib #1 goes to the Honorary Musher)

1. Ray Redington Jr (2)
2. Jim Lanier (3)
3. William Pinkham (4)
4. Tom Thurston (5)
5. Jodi Bailey (6)
6. Wade Marrs (7)
7. Cim Smyth (8)
8. Nicolas Petit (9)
9. Jeff King (10)
10. John Baker (11)
11. Kelly Maixner (12)
12. Michael Suprenant (13)
13. Aliy Zirkle (14)
14. Pat Moon (15) {R}
15. Trent Herbst (16)
16. DeeDee Jonrowe (17)
17. Lance Mackey (18)
18. Travis Cooper (19) {R}
19. Kelley Griffin (20)
20. Ramey Smyth (21)
21. Mike Santos (22) {R}
22. Gerry Willomitzer (23)
23. Sigrid Ekran (24)
24. Paul Gebhardt (25)
25. Michelle Phillips (26)
26. Hugh Neff (27)
27. Peter Kaiser (28)
28. Jake Berkowitz (29)
29. Jaimee Kinzer (30) {R}
30. Kristy Berington (31)
31. Anjanette Steer (32) {R}
32. Anna Berington, (33) {R}
33. Dallas Seavey (34)
34. Mitch Seavey (35)
35. Bruce Linton (36)
36. Scott Janssen (37)
37. Justin Savidis (38)
38. Ken Anderson (39)
39. Jan Steves (40) {R}
40. Martin Buser (41)
41. Colleen Robertia (42)
42. Karin Hendrickson (43)
43. Aaron Burmeister (44)
44. Ed Stielstra (45)
45. Ryne Olson (46) {R}
46. Kirk Barnum (47)
47. Hank Debruin (48) {R}
48. Bob Chlupach (49)
49. Brent Sass (50) {R}
50. Michael Williams, Jr (51)
51. Matt Giblin (52)
52. Zoya DeNure (53)
53. Silvia Furtwängler (54) {R}
54. Josh Cadzow (55) {R}
55. Karen Ramstead (56)
56. Matt Failor (57) {R}
57. Gerald Sousa (58)
58. Sonny Lindner (59)
59. Rick Swenson (60)
60. Curt Perano (60) {R}
61. Rohn Buser (61)
62. Braxton Peterson (63) {R}
63. Art Church, Jr (64)
64. Dan Seavey (65)
65. Lachlan Clarke (66)
66. Ryan Redington (67)

Aily Zirkle Releases Her Iditarod 2009 Trail Notes

For a truly exciting and detailed first-hand tale of the Iditarod, check out Aily Zirkle's "Trail Notes" at the SP Kennel Dog Log.
She journals the entire race, checkpoint-by-checkpoint, detailing the stops along the way. From the personal logic behind each decision, to the descriptions of the obstacles along the way, this is an insider's view of the race that few outside of the participants ever get. Whether you're a professional musher looking for an edge, or an amateur hoping to learn, or a fan just wanting the entertainment, Aily's notes are required reading!

Mushing Blog

Recommended reading: Laughing Eyes Kennel Journal by Hugh Neff

This quote from Hugh's blog gives you an idea of his personality:

"Known as one of the more 'oddball characters' of our sport allows me the opportunity to speak my mind w/out fear of repercussions from sponsors. All of our sponsors are our friends, not just someone looking to make a buck off of our name. Hugh Neff , I promise you, will never be some 'walking billboard'- we're here to play with dogs not sell our soul."

Iditarod Ceremonial Start

The Iditarod Ceremonial start from downtown Anchorage went off smoothly, by all reports. The 67 mushers, their 12-dog teams, handlers and Iditariders made the 12 mile trip without incident.

The teams are now arriving at the staging area in Willow for the re-start, slated for 2:00pm Alaska time, 5:00pm Central DST (spring forward!)

Stay tuned for updates from this year's exciting race!

SP Kennel Dog Log - Best Mushing Blog

Check out the SP Kennel Dog Log, the blog of mushers Aliy Zirkle and Allen Moore. Extremely well-written and informative, it should be required reading for beginning dog mushers everywhere.
It's a behind-the-scenes look at a successful long-distance kennel, filled with great audio and video clips. They explain what it takes to prepare 2 teams for the Iditarod, the amount of training and dog care that goes into it, and the simple day-to-day operations of a professional kennel.
Aliy herself is well-spoken, generous with her knowledge, and good-humored. The video introductions of the dogs are a must-see!
Anyone interested in the mushing world would gain insight from this interesting and entertaining blog.