Iditarod Trail Facts

     Today I shall talk about the Iditarod Trail. I started this blog because of a presentation I saw, it's one of my first posts, "Finney's Iditarod Trail Adventure." I'm going to continue on that subject by giving you facts on the Iditarod Trail and sled dogs. 
     The first race started on March 3, 1973. It always starts in March. It starts in Anchorage and ends in Nome. The race is over a 1,000 miles. Iditarod means clear water. It can also be called The Last Great Race. 
     The teams average 16 dogs. The puppies first harness usually when they are six months old. The dogs can eat up to 10,000 calories per day! I want to be a husky now. They don't have to eat vegetables I bet. Although they do have to run in temperatures that can be 100 below wind chill. I say I have husky blood because when it's cold I don't feel cold. Now I'm not sure I want to be a husky anymore. The dogs have microchips that track them so the officials can know where they are going and if they're in trouble.
    There are two routes, there is one that is north and a south route. The north one is even years and the south one is odd years. The race can take about 10-17 days. There is an award called the Red Lantern. It is for the person that finished last. It doesn't symbolize that they are bad, it symbolizes they showed determination and effort. If you want to follow the race in March go to: Iditarod race.
     I'm going to talk about Balto now. In 1925, Nome, Alaska caught diphtheria. The native children weren't use to it so it was deadly. A team of sled dogs pulled a sled full of medicine to Nome. Two of the leaders we recognize are Balto and Togo. Togo went through the most dangerous parts of the trail. Balto brought the medicine into Nome. But I recognize both of them as heroes. Speaking of Balto, I put up a Balto on my blog. You can give him biscuits and he won't get sick. You can throw a ball and he won't get tired. He's Balto! Though if you've got the ball out, put the ball away before you feed him.