Pathfinder

Iditarod

Abbi Wonacott
Honors ¾
April 21, 2008

Introduction:

Some people know what the Iditarod is and some people don't. Those people that do are probably familiar with dogs used for mushing but not many people know the conditions of the dogs. The food that the musher and dogs eat perhaps is not a familiar thing people talk about. The iditarod takes place in Alaska; from Anchorage to Nome. The history of the iditarod is also not known by a lot of people. My goal is to tell you what is the iditarod and some of the basics. People know that the iditarod involves a team of dogs that go to a place but I want to show you the basics, the history and The different food they eat to keep the dogs and musher healthy.

1. Best Internet Sites:

Learn About the Iditarod. 2008. Anchorage Chrysler Dodge Center. 19 Mar. 2008. http://www.iditarod.com/learn/

The author of this site is not a person but an organization. Gere Donovan Creative is an organization that is multi-disciplined design firm with offices in Portland, Organ and Anchorage, Alaska. This company works on redesigning websites and helping clients out with businesses. They sponsor a page that teaches you more on the Iditarod. This page has information on the culture of it, how it started and the measures taken to achieve an outstanding goal. This work is very useful for my project because this site has information that is interesting. The site also has many useful links that can give you more information.

What is the Iditarod? 2006. Ultimate Iditarod. 19 Mar. 2008. http://www.ultimateiditarod.com/iditarodkidsF.htm

The authors of the site are Jim Gallea and Tyrell Seavey. Jim Gallea is a former competitor who competed in the Iditarod in 1999. Now he is a student in Washington School of Medicine which doesn't leave much time for racing but volunteers for the Iditarod and helps provide web mastering and business management. Tyrell Seavey is an 18 year old who has competed in the junior Iditarod and finished in 16th place. Generations of his family has competed in the Iditarod and now he is a reporter on the trail for Ultimate Iditarod but in the summer he is the Manager of a Sled Dog Operations. The content in the site is about the culture of the Iditarod. This site also contains the information of the basics and the history containing how it started. This information is useful because the authors are reliable and this fits into my sub-topics. The site also has many links to sites that also give great information.

2. Best Reference Source:

"Iditarod." Reviewed by Tricia Brown. The New Book of Knowledge®. 2008. Grolier Online. 14 Apr. 2008 http://nbk.grolier.com/cgi-bin/article?assetid=a2041801-h">http://nbk.grolier.com/

Tricia Brown is an author that revises, edits and writes books. She is a children writer with some adult books. She has written many books on Alaska and the Iditarod. This information gives the general layout of the Iditarod. The website gives details on the dogs, route, and winnings and how long it would take. This is useful because of the information’s reliability. I have seen this on many sites but this has it all together and is not scattered.

"Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race." America the Beautiful. 2008. Grolier Online. 14 Apr. 2008 http://atb.grolier.com/cgi-bin/article?templatename=topics.html&assetid=atb999h5723&assettype=h.

This website has plenty of information on the history of the Iditarod. The information on this website tells how the Iditarod started. This website is so useful because it is an online encyclopedia and it is clear and understandable to read. This is a great website because it is also not that complicated.

Organization:

Race Headquarters Mile 2.2 Knik Goose Bay Rd. Wasilla, AK Phone:(907) 248-MUSHFax: (907) 373-6998

The Race Headquarters have information on the race, they have a museum and dog sled rides. This place can help with research because it has a museum with footage on the Iditarod.

"Iditarod Champions." Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. 2008. Grolier Online. 14 Apr. 2008. http://gme.grolier.com/cgi-bin/article?templatename=/article/asset.html&assetid=6930-b

This website shows how many people have been in first place. It shows the women and the men that have won and records. This data is useful to my report because it shows the women that have completed the race and the amount of time it took for each racer.

3. Periodical Sources

Clarisel Gonzalez. "Too Little Snow at the Iditarod? " Scholastic News 4 Feb. 2008: 6,T2. JuniorQuest Magazines. ProQuest. Pro Quest. Spanaway, Washington. 16 Apr. 2008 http://www.proquest.com/

The author Clarisel Gonzalez is a editor and a photographer. She is a Freelance Journalist/Independent Producer. Currently she lives in New York. She is Puerto Rican and writes articles on all kinds of things. The content is spaced out but is useful for my research on the iditarod. The content has information on global warming and how it has affected the iditarod. The content is very useful, it is easy to read and understandable.

Alex Berenson. "Warm Welcome for Winner of Iditarod :[Sports Desk]. " New York Times [New York, N.Y.] 13 Mar. 2008, Late Edition (East Coast): D.4. ProQuest National Newspapers Core. ProQuest. Proquest, Spanaway, Washington. 16 Apr. 2008 http://www.proquest.com/

The author is Alex Berenson and he is a dedicated writer. He graduated from Yale University in 1994. He has been to Iraq and the New Orland’s flood. He has written many articles in The New York Times and wrote two books one being The Faithful Spy. The content tells when the first participant finished the race and how it would have felt to be there when Lance Mackey crossed the finish line. This content is useful because this is a writer that I can trust and since he is very experienced as a reporter I will use this information.

Wilder, Nathaniel, "Iditarod's passionate pull., " Christian Science Monitor. 16 April 2008. <http://periodicalstestdby.grolier.com/php/ebsco/ebsco-go2.php?product=go2-passport&editfield1=iditarod&StartRecNo=1&NoRec=1>

The author Nathaniel is the author of this article but when I looked for information on him I kept getting a Photographer and names from medieval times. When I searched with the organization I just got the same article over and over again with different word phrases. The content takes about dog getting abuse and people’s passion to watch and race in the iditarod. This article is useful because it is not hard to read and the information is accurate as I look around different websites.

4. Best Books:

Young, Ian. The Iditarod: Story of the Last Great Race. Red Brick learning. 2006. Bethel SD. 8 April 2008 http://books.google.com/books?id=_og38sELPTcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=iditarod&sig=SctboeIqBm5dB2J_hKpWNVBIKPE

Ian Young is an activist, a writer and a publishers. His books are mostly about poetry, literary anthologies, bibliography and history. He was born in London and is involved in the gay movement. The information in this book is the basics on the iditarod and general information like where it starts. The book is not too long so if I get the book it wouldn't take me three weeks to read but maybe a day or two. The content is also reliable because this is an experienced author.

Schultz, Jeff. Dogs of the Iditarod. Sasquatch Books. 2003. Bethel SD. 18 April 2008. http://books.google.com/books?id=yo4s0fHhfcEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=dogs+of+the+iditarod&sig=3BjWOUkAWcixJagoCony3mUMGdk

Jeff Schultz is a writer but mostly a photographer. He photographed images from Alaska for many national magazines. Jeff is popular among clients in Alaska. This content is about the dogs of the Iditarod. This book shows how the racers care about there dogs and how they are family. This book can be very useful because it takes about dogs and one of my sub-topics is on the dogs. This even is great because it is not hard to read but has a lot if information.

5. Non-Print Source:

Balto. Dir. Simon Wells. VHS. Universal Studios, 1995

Simon Wells is a director and was born 1961. He was nominated for many movies. He also directed the movies; Balto, Time machine and dinosaur movies. This movie is a historical fiction that replicates the time when some mushers bring a medicine to Nome to stop a deadly disease. This is useful because the movie show what the dogs were used for before the real Iditarod actually started.

My Reference Inferences:

To describe the basics of the iditarod I will tell them in categories; the dogs and position, the trail and checkpoints, and the last leg of the iditarod and the winnings. Starting with the dogs there is a team of 16 huskies. In the front are the pair of lead dogs. There goal is to run in front and find the trail and follow it. Next is the swing dogs there job is to help the lead dogs turn and maintain a steady past. The job of the team dogs are to follow the ones in front and to provide the horsepower. The position right in front of the sled is the wheel dogs and they are supposed to pull the sled and traditionally are the biggest and the strongest of the group. There are mainly two trails for the iditarod that are alternated; the northern route are used on the even years(2008) and the southern routes are used on odd years(2009). There are many check points on the map the provide a check up on the dog and food for the dogs and mushers. The last checkpoint before finishing is Safety. Safety is only 22 miles away from Nome and the mushers are able to see the lights in Nome. When a competitor completes the race first they get a trophy and about 72,000 dollars. There is a prize for the next one to finish; 65,000 dollars and so on until 30th place were you get 2,000 dollars. These are the basics of the iditarod but the history of the iditarod and how it started is something I didn't know about until I researched it.

The history of the iditarod would all start with the Gold Rush and how it inspired Dorothy G. Page in staring the iditarod. Before Inuits traveled with komatiks or dogsleds. This is the way for Inuits for a while until the 1920's when Americans came to the Gold Rush. As people came to the Gold Rush more and more people used the iditarod trail for gold and mail. When planes were used more then the dogsleds started to become obsolete. Around 1965, Dorothy G. Page on the other had was impressed with the way Inuits used dogsleds to travel instead of automobiles and presented the possibility of a race to be held on the iditarod trail that has been forgotten to Joe Redington, Sr., a musher from the Knik area. Then as the word spread the Aurora Dog Mushers Club and other clubs helped clear out the iditarod trail of underbrush and other things. Soon afterwards, in 1969, they began to advertise the race and show people the winnings of 25,000 dollars to the winner of the race. At that time the first two races were only 27 miles long. Later, in 1979, the U.S. Army opened up a larger race of 1,000 miles from Seward to Nome. People thought this was crazy until 22 mushers completed the race. From that day forth Dorothy G. Page is known as the "mother of the Iditarod." In 1979 she quoted “ To keep the spirit of the Iditarod the same. I don’t ever want to see high pressure people getting in and changing the spirit of the race. We brought the sled dog back and increased the number of mushers. It is really an Alaskan event. I think the fact that it starts in Anchorage and then ends in Nome has opened up a whole new area for people in Alaska. I think they appreciate that. It puts them in touch with the pioneer spirit." One thing I am pretty sure they did not change is the food the musher eat and what the dogs eat.

During the iditarod the musher and dogs have a well balanced diet. For the mushers they need to remember to eat so they will bring food they love to eat like lasagna of beef jerky. Out of all those food though you have to make sure they are at least nutritious. The reason for this is so that they will want to eat the appealing food. To keep notorious they all need a balance of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. They also need a lot of liquids. All of these food items are either on there sled or at a food drop. To cook on the trail all they do is thaw out there food or drinks because it should be already made. The dogs also have to eat also, what they eat is usually a type of soup. The dogs eat up to 10-14,000 calories every day. The dogs, as do the mushers, need fats, proteins, and carbohydrates but the dogs would eat more fat because pulling the sled burns fat quicker. Their food comes in frozen blocks of meat that when to be cooked they cut it with axes or saws. Usually the musher would not cook the meat because the dogs prefer the frozen parts. Another thing the dogs need is water, to make it easier the mushers just mix every thing together to make a soup. The musher would have to melt the snow to up to 4 or 5 gallons of water. The dogs are also picky about the stew, in cold temperatures they like the stew warm but in warmer temperatures the like it cold. To keep healthy on the trail the mushers and dogs need to eat their food. After all their nutrients are feed before and during the race they will be just find.

As I researched information on the iditarod I learned so many new things that I didn't before on the iditarod. About every thing on this blog I had no idea what it was and the information is all new to me. Researching the iditarod was interesting to me because before I just thought the iditarod was just a race but now I know the history, how it started and facts I would not have known from watching T.V. So my final thoughts on this would be that now that I know what it is when someone asked me what the iditarod is I have something to show and tell.