(Wasilla, AK. September 3rd, 2010) Four Time Iditarod Champion Lance Mackey will be at the Iditarod Checkpoint (at the Alaska State Fair) from 11 am to 12:30 pm on Saturday, September 4^th.  Mackey will be on hand to talk with race fans, sign autographs and help promote the Iditarod Summer Raffle. The Iditarod Checkpoint is located on the “Green Trail” close to the Borealis Plaza Tent.

Four-time Iditarod Champions Lance Mackey and Martin Buser will be joined by 1978 Iditarod Champion Dick Mackey, 2004 Iditarod Champion Mitch Seavey, Dee Dee Jonrowe, Dallas Seavey, Ramey Smyth and Hugh Neff  at the Borealis Plaza tent from 1:30 pm to 5 pm to meet and greet race fans attending the Alaska State Fair.

We’ll see you there!

(Wasilla, AK. August 31, 2010) The Iditarod Trail Committee is proud to be a part of the Alaska State Fair’s “Iditarod Heroes” meet and greet on Saturday September 4^th, 2010. The event will take place at the Borealis Plaza Tent (next to the Borealis Theater) from 1:30 pm to 5 pm.

Four-time Iditarod Champions Lance Mackey and Martin Buser will be joined by 1978 Iditarod Champion Dick Mackey, 2004 Iditarod Champion Mitch Seavey, Dee Dee Jonrowe, Dallas Seavey, Ramey Smyth and Hugh Neff to meet and greet race fans attending the fair.

The Iditarod Trail Committee will also have some very special artifacts on hand from Iditarod’s past races that will help visitors get a glimpse of how “The Last Great Race on Earth” has evolved since its early years.

This is a great opportunity for race fans of all ages to get up close and personal with these Iditarod athletes as they share their stories of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

For those who want to see the Awards presentations, please click here to get the Insider look of the awards banquet FREE!

Wasilla Alaska – (May 13, 2010) – Martha Dobson, Mount Pleasant, North Carolina, has been selected as the Target® 2011 Iditarod Teacher on the Trail™.

Martha Dobson, an educator at Mount Pleasant Middle School, North Carolina, teaches sixth grade English and Language Arts.  Martha’s prophetic choice of a Gary Paulsen novel to teach her students, led her to the Iditarod and a trip to Alaska.  After experiencing the race as an IditaRider and attending an Iditarod Teacher Conference in Alaska, Martha discovered that the race seemed to spark an interest like none other in her students. “The challenge the race presents to mushers, dogs, students, and me is a metaphor for the challenges of life and life opportunities, a strong example of setting goals, determination, and perseverance to run one’s personal race.”

Beginning in June and throughout the next year, Martha will be creating standards aligned curriculum and developing an online journal at http://iditarodblogs.com/tott/. During the 2011 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, Martha will be flying from checkpoint to checkpoint sharing her observations and lesson ideas via the internet to students and teachers in classrooms around the world.

The Iditarod Teacher on the Trail^TM program began in 1999 with an inspirational idea and has grown into a nationally acclaimed and globally followed 21^st century technology project. With the support of Target® this program is able to reach out to children around the United States and the world, bringing “The Last Great Race on Earth” a little closer to their imaginations in a real-time, research based project that inspires students to read, write, and solve problems using 21^st century skills.

The Iditarod Trail Committee is proud to welcome Martha to this very elite group of educators from around the country.  Martha will be sharing a preview of her Target® 2011 Iditarod Teacher on the Trail™ curriculum at the Summer Camp for Educators to be held in Wasilla, Alaska, June 20 – 28 and at the Iditarod Winter Conference for Teachers, March 1 – 4, 2011.    Martha is the 13th Teacher on the Trail.

The CPA firm of Newhouse and Vogler, of Anchorage, Alaska, conducted a pre-drawing audit and observed the drawing to ensure that all of the tickets that were sold during the raffle were in the drum before announcing the twenty winning tickets.

The Iditarod Trail Committee congratulates the winners of the 2010 Winter Raffle.  We would also like to take the time to thank all of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race fans who donated to the 2010 Winter Raffle.  This fundraiser is vital to the success of staging “The Greatest Sled Dog Race on Earth.”

Please help us congratulate the 2010 Iditarod Winter Raffle Winners

The 2010 Iditarod Winter Raffle officially sold out at approximately 2:30 pm Alaska time on Saturday, April 10^th. The Winter Raffle is one of the Iditarod’s largest fundraisers. The revenue generated from this raffle goes toward staging the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

The outpouring of support by Iditarod Race Fans throughout Alaska and around the world was instrumental in helping the Iditarod Trail Committee (ITC) meet its goal of selling every ticket in the Winter Raffle.

On Sunday, April 11^th, the ITC will announce the winners of the 2010 Winter Raffle at the Great Alaskan Sportsman Show in Anchorage. The drawing will begin at 5 pm Alaska time. Twenty winners will be announced at that time, and four of those winners will each receive a brand new Dodge Ram Quad Cab 4X4 Pickup Truck valued at $42, 295. More than $200,000 in prizes will be given away at that time.

Please log on to www.iditarod .com, Sunday night, to see who the 2010 Winter Raffle winners are after they are announced.

The Iditarod Trail Committee would like to thank all those participants who donated to the 2010 Winter Raffle. Thank you for helping us stage “The Last Great Race on Earth.”

There were no adverse analytical findings, or positive tests, through the first 40 finishing positions. Test results for the remaining samples are expected by the beginning of next week.

IDITAROD XXXVIII all volunteer potluck is scheduled for 6 pm this evening (March 2^4th 2010) at the Millennium Alaskan Hotel in Anchorage Alaska.  This annual festivity is a great opportunity for volunteers who participated in the 2010 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race to join together and share the many memories they have of the race.  The gathering will take place in the Redington Room on the 3^rd floor of the Millennium.

Iditarod Volunteer photographer, Jeff Schultz will be on hand to share the photos he took along the trail.  And special guest, 4 time Iditarod Champion Jeff King, is also planning on being at the festivity.

Make no mistake about it, Hans was racing to win.  He just chose to rest his dogs more and keep up their speed rather than doing the longer runs. Talking in Nome he stated that he made a few mistakes that kept him from winning and it was not the fault of his team.  Stating that his team preformed well he said that they did lack some of the “zip” they had in the Yukon Quest.  First in the Quest and second in the Iditarod, sounds like a repeat from last year.

Hans said in Nome that dealing with the constant cold of 40 below on the last part of the race was hard to cope with. That and the extreme sleep deprivation that racers experience.  Add the two together and it makes the race that much harder on the mushers.

Ken Anderson ran a very stealth race, staying out of view of the other racers and running different run/ rest cycles than the front of the pack.  His come from behind run after his 24 hour layover is something mushers next year should study in a well planned race.  From the Yukon River to Koyuk Ken rested at different points and kept steadily closing in on the front teams and maintained a smooth steady pace.

Hugh Neff ran at the front for most of the race, falling back some once he reached the coast.  Hugh said he will be back for next year’s Iditarod  and reflected a little on this years race.  At the beginning of this years race the teams experienced soft snow conditions and he was glad he had a “trail hardened” team fresh from the Yukon Quest. This year he stopped at every checkpoint to give his team  rest.  Rohn to Nikolai was one of the hardest runs for Hugh as he kept having the runner plastic peel off his runners and finally just ran 30 miles across tussocks on his metal runners. He stated that he feels it’s important for teams training for the Iditarod to run on rough trails and not always train on groomed trails which they most likely won’t see during the race. This year he was running a young team of dogs which he calls Annie’s Army bred from his leader by that name.  He stated that he questions focusing on run times during a race and thinks rest times are more important. On the weather in this years race, Hugh said it’s just as important that mushers take care of themselves as it is their dogs.  If your hands don’t work you can’t take care of your dogs.  In cold like the mushers had in this years race it takes lots of good  food for the dogs and dog coats to help them rest.  He also said though cold wears on a musher, wind is still their biggest fear.  Luckily  they didn’t get much of that this year.  Near the end of the race he said he got on the wrong run/rest time that made the final run up the coast more difficult.  Elim to White  Mountain was a hard run for him and his team.  Hugh still reflects on racing as a great privilege and being out in the country seems to be more of a spiritual connection for him.  He’s come a long ways from the streets of Chicago!  Hugh gave Hans Gatt a congratulations on a well run race.

Finally one must congratulate John Baker on pulling it back together after a five hour set back on his run to Cripple.  If you subtract that five hours from his time he would have been right in the thick of the front battle this year. None the less he made a strong recovery in the latter part of the race.

Listening to Jeff reflect on his race in Nome he said that on the first three days of the race he gave the dogs time to get into a good run/rest/eating cycle.  Many mushers tend to overlook the importance of this first day and jump into the race too fast, then pay for it later. They say that the first day can effect the whole rest of the race for a team. He also noticed that the other lead teams were backing off a little to save energy for later.

Jeff said, and it’s true, that he had a very dominate team until Takotna.  He reported that his run from Rohn to Nikolai was the best run he ever had in any of his Iditarods.  His team was eating great at the 24 hour layover and seemed to be the team to beat.  At least that’s what all his competitors said.  Later in the race his dogs got a little off their eating habits and Jeff spent more time resting them.  He reported that the run from Kaltag to Unalakeet was one of the toughest runs of the race with soft snow that slowed the teams down.  He was glad for the extra rest he had given them in Kaltag before heading out over this section as the first 27 miles took him 5 hours to cover.

Jeff said that he only saw Lance’s team once during the whole race and that was just the brief time that Lance pulled into and blew through Kaltag.  In fact he said in all the years he’s raced Lance he’s really only run with him once for a brief period in the All Alaska Sweepstakes Race.

Koyuk was the first place he stated that he thought it might be hard to beat Mackey but he didn’t give up till the end.  Jeff has raced enough to know that many a dog team has slowed or stopped short of the finish line.

Listening to both Lance and Jeff it was interesting that they both stated that they respected each other and complimented one another on their dog handling skills.  Jeff said that Lance is the hardest competitor he’s gone up against.

During this years race Jeff took the time to thank people along the trail that he has seen for the last 20 years.

By now everyone knows that Jeff has stated that this will be his last competitive Iditarod.  My guess is that he’s sorry he ever announced that before the race.  It was with disbelief and some embarrassment that I watched fans and the press hound him from one end of the trail to another about his calling it quits for awhile.  He handled the endless questions with a lot of patience and grace for a person totally exhausted from a lack of sleep.  It was only during a quiet moment in Koyuk when he had just made a cold 40 below run during the night that I heard him with humor reflect on the constant question. With cold hands and an aching back he bent over to take the booties off his dogs and said with a grin on his face “and they wonder why I don’t want to do this any more”.   It’s truly hard for a person that’s never been on the trail to understand how physically and mentally hard running the Iditarod is.  When they say a musher is sleepy they don’t mean in the normal sense of the word.  We’re talking sleep deprivation that physically hurts when you wake from a short nap.  A lack of sleep that confuses normal thought processes.  That borders on torture.  That peels ones emotions wide open.  Yet the mushers stay focused, take care of their dogs and say more “thank yous” to the folks helping them in check points than you normally hear on the street.

Jeff and I both started getting sled dogs in 1976 and spent a period of time traveling, trapping and hauling freight with them, developing the skills that would serve later when racing.

In 1981 Jeff ran his first Iditarod.  He then dedicated years to the running of the Yukon Quest Sled Dog Race.

In 1991 he returned to the Iditarod and has run every Iditarod since.  He has never scratched or  lost a single dog in all those races.  In the ranchlands of the American West there is a saying that a person is “a good hand”.  This simple phase speaks volumes of respect, that a person is good with their stock, respectful of others and gets the job done without complaint.  That same respect is spoken in dog circles in the saying that a person is a “good dog man”.  Jeff has been and is a good dog man.  He has given us 21 years of entertainment and competitive Iditarod races.  Some seem to have a hard time getting their head around the idea that he wants to quit now.  Jeff never said he was done with dogs or the Iditarod for that matter.  He just wants to end the competitive part with some dignity and grace. The Iditarod is a pretty big dog race but there’s a big world out there that Jeff wants the time to explore.  How many times have we seen a rock band or an athlete go on preforming years after they should have quit.  We should thank Jeff for all the great races and all he’s brought to the sport of mushing.  We should be happy that he wants to end with the same grace and success that he has shown us over the years.  We should thank him like he thanked all those people along the trail.

Dick was born December 20, 1922 to Ellis and Goldie Forsgren in Portland, OR.  Dick joined the Army Air Corp in 1944 and became a fighter pilot and was assigned to teach instrument flying.  He received orders to deploy to Europe but the war was over before he was scheduled to go.  He was recalled for the Korean War and flew F-84’s out of RAF Manston in England and Korea.

After the war he returned to Oregon and applied for work in Alaska.  He was hired by the CAA as a flight service communicator in 1956 and assigned to Galena.  He moved to Cordova in 1962, to Cape Yakataga in 1965, and to McGrath in 1966.   He was the first mayor of McGrath.  He had a cabin in Ophir where he spent lots of time.  He held an annual moose hunt there with Dave Ronaldson, Ed Jones, and Popo Richardson for many years.

He retired from the FAA in 1983 with 32 years of Federal service and moved to Long Lake in Willow. He was a bush pilot, hunter, sport fisherman, and a trapper along with being a partier extraordinaire.

Dick was also very involved with the Iditarod Dog Sled Race.  He was at his cabin in Ophir for the first race.  It became a regular checkpoint after that.  He helped put the trail in between McGrath and Poorman or Iditarod for many years and was a member of the Board of Directors.

Dick and Audra enjoyed taking the camper out for trips on the Denali Highway for berry picking and to Deep Creek at Ninilchik for fishing.  They were married for 62 years.

Dick is survived by his wife Audra; children and their spouses:  Keith and Cathy Forsgren, Connie and Bill Woolard, Denise and Doug Hisey, Grandchildren Sheri and Kyle Forsgren, Adrian Woolard, Shawna Hytry, Michelle and David Hisey and four great-grandchildren.  His sister Betty Gayden of Portland, OR also survives Dick.  Boarding students DeeDee Carlo & Gail Matthews are like daughters.

In lieu of flowers please make donations to the Iditarod Trail Committee or to charity of choice.

Tonight, the Iditarod community had much to celebrate. More than 1800 volunteers ensured that the continuum of care for both the human and canine athlete was priority number one. The Iditarod could never reach the level of competition that was demonstrated in the 2010 race without their selfless passion.

Below is a list of the individual awards that were presented at tonight’s IDITAROD XXXVIII Finishers Banquet.

IDITAROD XXXVIII

SPECIAL AWARDS

Pen Air Spirit of Alaska Award

• Jeff King

GCI Dorothy G. Page Halfway Award

• Dallas Seavey

Millennium Hotel Anchorage Alaskan First To the Yukon Award

• Jeff King

Wells Fargo Bank Alaska Gold Coast Award

• Lance Mackey

Nome Kennel Club Fastest Time from Safety to Nome Award

• Paul Gebhardt

Horizon Lines Most Improved Musher Award

• Sam Deltour

Rookie of the Year

• Dan Kaduce

Fred Meyer Sportsmanship Award

• Ray Redington, Jr.

ExxonMobil Mushers Choice Award

• Jim Lanier

Northern Air Cargo Herbie Nayokpuk Memorial Award

• William “Middie” Johnson

Golden Clipboard Award

• Cripple

Golden Stethoscope Award

• Caroline Griffitts

Alaska Airlines Leonhard Seppala Humanitarian Award

• Sebastian Schnuelle

City of Nome Lolly Medley Golden Harness Award Winner

• Maple – Lance Mackey’s Leader

In Nome Lance reflected on this year’s race and told us a little about this team.  For the first three days of the race things didn’t come together with the team. According to Lance, they didn’t become a solid unit . They were all good dogs but they just weren’t that cohesive unit one needs to compete at the front. They first came together for him on the run from Cripple to Ruby and that was the first time he saw an opportunity to win.  His team has a huge bottom end and  as he says “they will walk to the end of the earth for him”.  One thing for sure, they were great eaters in the last half of the race packing down every calorie and drinking everything he put in front of them.  Good eating habits are a major attribute Lance looks for in his racing dogs.  He said that eating well effects everything else about a dogs performance.

One issue Lance had to deal with this year was that a large number of his food drops bags had thawed out and the red meat was spoiled.  That didn’t allow him to feed the way he normally would during parts of the race.  Red meat is a big part of a racing dog’s diet so he was limited in the meals he could feed them.

Lance said that he knew from the beginning that if he was going to win this race the one team he had to beat was Jeff King’s.  He did his long run from Nulato to Unalakleet not so much to win but ” to shake up the competition around him”.  It also was a way to make up the lead that Jeff had on him,  stay in the top five and to win the first to the coast award.  According to Lance he couldn’t have done that run if it wasn’t the right time of day and the right section of trail with the dogs eating well.

He also said on this race he was as cold as he’d ever been.  His hands were often so cold he could barely use them.  His feet hurt and at Koyuk he questioned how many more years he can do this.

Lance always finds a way to enjoy himself on the trail none the less.  When heading into the finish line in Nome he came upon a set of caribou antlers buried in the snow and took the time to dig them out and mount them on his sled.  If you see the videos of him coming into Nome you can see them on his sled.

Lance said he didn’t get into sled dogs or racing to break records.  He’s just happy to find something that he’s good at and enjoys doing.  None the less he has made history in the sled dog world.

Davis was also awarded the coveted Wells Fargo Red Lantern, presented by Loren Prosser, Northwest Alaska Community Banking President.  After the ceremony under the Burled Arch concluded, the 2010 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race ended with the traditional gesture of blowing out the Widow’s Lamp, signifying that all mushers and their teams were safely off the Iditarod Trail.

All 2010 Iditarod Official Finishers will be present at the Finishers Banquet in Nome Alaska, tomorrow (Sunday) March 21^st.  The banquet gets underway at 3:30 pm at the Nome Recreation Center.

Like many things in life it’s not about the destination but the journey getting there that counts.

Not every team that enters the Iditarod makes it to Nome and that has always been the case. In the new history documentary about the Iditarod titled “Purely Alaskan”, you can see that in that very first race in 1973 with Joe Redington on board, one team was withdrawn from the race at the starting line. Others scratched along the way. Just like climbing a major mountain not every climber makes it to the summit. If there wasn’t a chance of not making it, then reaching the top (or finish line in this case) wouldn’t be so rewarding. It’s not easy to run the Iditarod. But we shouldn’t feel disappointed or sad for those who had to scratch in this year’s race. At least they had the courage to try, to plan, to dream. How many people go though life without that courage. Even though they may not have made it to Nome they did get to spend a year training their dogs on winter trails. They got to plan their race and got to at least see part of Alaska on the Iditarod trail. No one can ever take that from them. Again, it’s about the journey not the destination and they were a part of this years race.

If you try to run the Iditarod and give it your best there is no failure in going home early. In fact to scratch in the Iditarod is to join a list of the “who’s who” of this race. To name a few Dee Dee Jonrowe, Joe Garnie, Dick Mackey, Susan Butcher, Lance Mackey, Rick Swenson, Sonny Lindner and Joe Redington have all had to pull out of the Iditarod early at one time or another. Pretty good company I’d say.

The only people we should feel sorry for are those not brave enough to reach for a difficult dream. Those that are afraid to try. Mushers can always give it a try another year. There are endless stories that unfold in every Iditarod. Sometimes what seems like a difficult moment becomes a valued memory in the future. Congratulations should go out to everyone that was brave enough to play a part in this year’s race.