Iditarod Background & Aliy Zirkle
Aliy Zirkle who has ran the Iditarod since 2001 when I first moved to Alaska. She was the first woman to win the Yukon Quest Sled Dog Race in 2000 a similar long distance race held in February that covers the expanse from Whitehorse, in the Yukon Territories of Canada to Fairbanks. She has been one of my favorites to watch and follow since I came to Alaska.
She and her husband run SP Kennel (Skunk’s Place) a premier sled dog racing kennel in Two Rivers, Alaska. Aliy Zirkle (runs Team Red) & her husband musher Allen Moore (runs Team Black) on their website, and have videos on YouTube. Last year she ran the race with a video camera mounted to her sled and gave a totally unique view of what it is like to run dogs over 1100 miles through some of Alaska’s most beautiful and rugged landscape.
Saturday Morning’s Ceremonial start in downtown Anchorage is a 15 mile run beginning on Fourth Avenue and then making a right turn onto “A” Street where it leads to a bike trail system past neighborhoods, University of Alaska Anchorage, the Native Medical Center and finishing at the Campbell Airstrip Airport. I hope to be there after breakfast for some fun and also go to my ‘secret’ spot along the trail to take some pictures and hopefully a video or two.
Many people have heard of the Iditarod, which (roughly) traces the route from Anchorage, Alaska to Nome followed in 1925 by sled dog teams relaying serum to Nome, Alaska to combat a diphtheria epidemic. Most have a two -line knowledge of this event. Three lines, if you ever saw the animated movie Balto. (Note: the dog that did most of the work was Togo, not Balto. Togo did the longest leg of the diphtheria run by far -- 261 miles, almost double what anybody else did -- including crossing Norton Sound. Many Siberian Huskies today trace their ancestry to Togo)
Now, for the rest of the story. The city of Nome, Alaska, was blocked from sea access for much of the year - - between six and nine months. Diphtheria is a particularly horrible disease which most of us have no experience with (and should be grateful that we don't). You choke to death on your own mucus and the scaly sloughing of skin in your throat - - horribly, and painful. When a diphtheria epidemic broke out in 1925, the city was faced with the deaths of many people - - horribly - - unless a way could be found to get diphtheria serum to them. Planes were out of the question (they could not fly at the cold temperatures and altitudes required to get to Nome). No ships could get through the ice. The only way to get the serum to Nome was by dogsled.
A man named Leonhard Sepphala organized a relay: dog teams (almost all of which were Siberians) and drivers did "legs" of the journey to race the serum to Nome. Siberians are well suited to the cold, with an outer coat that sheds snow and rain, and an inner coat that insulates them. However, the cold snap during the serum run was minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit with a wind chill, more than even a Husky can endure. Many animals ran their hearts out in the cold and died in their tracks. A number could never run again. Both dogs and mushers embodied the following: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." (2 Timothy 4:7) Together, they broke all records for the Nenana to Nome run.
An entire city of people owed their lives and survival to "a bunch of dogs." Their heroism is commemorated each year when the Iditarod is run, but few today really remember what those dogs and their mushers did. Every time I look into Thunder's blue and brown eyes (another breed characteristic -- eyes of different colors), I am reminded of his ancestry, and how all those quirky little things that can be - - on occasion - - so irritating, saved the lives of the people who depended on "Husky traits" in the inhospitable Yukon.
Now, for the rest of the story. The city of Nome, Alaska, was blocked from sea access for much of the year - - between six and nine months. Diphtheria is a particularly horrible disease which most of us have no experience with (and should be grateful that we don't). You choke to death on your own mucus and the scaly sloughing of skin in your throat - - horribly, and painful. When a diphtheria epidemic broke out in 1925, the city was faced with the deaths of many people - - horribly - - unless a way could be found to get diphtheria serum to them. Planes were out of the question (they could not fly at the cold temperatures and altitudes required to get to Nome). No ships could get through the ice. The only way to get the serum to Nome was by dogsled.
A man named Leonhard Sepphala organized a relay: dog teams (almost all of which were Siberians) and drivers did "legs" of the journey to race the serum to Nome. Siberians are well suited to the cold, with an outer coat that sheds snow and rain, and an inner coat that insulates them. However, the cold snap during the serum run was minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit with a wind chill, more than even a Husky can endure. Many animals ran their hearts out in the cold and died in their tracks. A number could never run again. Both dogs and mushers embodied the following: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." (2 Timothy 4:7) Together, they broke all records for the Nenana to Nome run.
An entire city of people owed their lives and survival to "a bunch of dogs." Their heroism is commemorated each year when the Iditarod is run, but few today really remember what those dogs and their mushers did. Every time I look into Thunder's blue and brown eyes (another breed characteristic -- eyes of different colors), I am reminded of his ancestry, and how all those quirky little things that can be - - on occasion - - so irritating, saved the lives of the people who depended on "Husky traits" in the inhospitable Yukon.
And now we begin . . . tomorrow morning at 10:00 AM AST . . . Iditarod 39.
Yet another adventure found within a great land . . . Alaska.
I hope you enjoy!
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