Restart? How can a race have two starts? This is more than I can wrap my young dog brain around! It’s true though; Iditarod has TWO starts – the CEREMONIAL START in Anchorage and then on the following day the RESTART in Willow. Once the teams leave Willow, it’s pretty difficult for spectators to see the race because the trail becomes very remote. So the numbers of people watching and cheering as the teams go by drops from thousands at the start and restart down to a handful in the checkpoints along the trail.

You might wonder why the Restart isn’t in Wasilla, the location of Iditarod Headquarters. That’s a good question! With all the urban development, new roads, driveways and traffic – it’s just not reasonable for the dogs to run out of Wasilla and with climate changes, Wasilla doesn’t have enough snow for a safe trail. By going 30 miles further north to hold the Restart at Willow, the teams head out across Willow Lake into the wilderness and a trail covered with plenty of snow. Willow is a community of 1600 people located at mile 69 of the Parks Highway that leads to Denali. This is the last road access to the trail. Summer high temperatures range between 70 and 90°F Winter temperatures range from 30 below to 30° above. Unlike some areas on the trail, Willow isn’t known for windy weather.

Enough about the details, here’s what Handler told us about the Restart. While the Ceremonial Start was pretty relaxed and a lot of fun, the Restart is a different story. The mushers are very focused and pretty business like. They all arrive with their dog trucks and trailers and park in designated spots on frozen Willow Lake. There are hundreds of volunteers including dog handlers, thousands of spectators and plenty of reporters and film crews. The mushers make last minute checks of their gear, sleds and gang lines. Some are even making last minute repairs and decisions as to which dogs will make the Iditarod team. Once the gang line is stretched out and the sled bag is packed, there’s time to answer reporter’s questions, give instructions to volunteer handlers, chat with other mushers, have a bite to eat, enjoy the beautiful view of Denali (if the mountain is out) or maybe take a little nap. The dogs are “dropped” (that’s musher speak for getting out of the dog trailer to go to the bathroom) then they get a nice pre-race meal and hop back into their boxes for a little nap. There is so much going on at the restart, getting back into the trailer helps to keep them relaxed and calm.

Soon enough, two o’clock rolls around and the action kicks into high gear! Mushers are keeping an eye on the time to get the team in harness soon enough but not too soon as the dogs will get too excited. Teams go off at two-minute intervals so to keep things rolling smoothly, about 20 minutes before your start time, the clerk of course comes by to tell the mushers to get ready. A short time later, the team is on the way to the starting line lead by 18 or 20 very strong handlers.

Handler told us this story about DeeDee Jonrowe. DeeDee was team 28. Team 27 was being taken to the start. DeeDee was just sitting around talking with folks, didn’t even have her anorak on. It sure seemed like she didn’t realize she was next. Time passed and the clerk called her to the start – still NO DOGS IN SIGHT. Finally, DeeDee stood up and suddenly 16 handlers appeared from out of nowhere with harness in hand. They each went to the trailer, brought out a dog, harnessed, hooked the dog onto the gang line and bootied it. DeeDee, now in her anorak, stepped onto the sled runners behind 16 cool, calm and collected dogs, pulled the snow hook and was on her way to the starting line. Honest – this all took less than a minute! Veteran mushers like DeeDee have their routine down to a science.

Well, there you have it – a little information about the Restart of Iditarod and Willow, the community that hosts the event. Next, Handler is going to tell us about the checkpoints along the trail – stay tuned for those stories and remember – in everything do your best every day.

Born to Run,

Sanka

On the day that teachers started school this fall, Handler came into the dog lot and said, “Hey big dogs, I started the 1049 mile virtual trail bike ride today. Do you want to hear about Anchorage and the Ceremonial Start?” We answered, “YES” with a load and enthusiastic howl. Handler sat on the roof of my doghouse and this is what she told us.

On the first Saturday morning of March, Iditarod begins at 10:00 in Anchorage with a Ceremonial Start. The Ceremonial Start gives newspaper and television reporters along with Iditariders, sponsors and spectators a chance to get close to the mushers and dogs and to be where the action is. This all begins at 4^th & “D” Street in the middle of downtown Anchorage. Here are answers to a couple of questions I had – Is it dark and Is there snow for the dogs to run on? The sun is up by around 8:00 am and it stays light until almost 6:30 or 7:00 pm. About snow - whenever it snows in Anchorage, the snow is scooped up and hauled away to be stockpiled.. On the night before the race, workers truck tons and tons of snow into downtown to cover the streets and create a trail for Iditarod. Handler says it’s amazing to have bare blacktop on Friday afternoon and then have snow covered streets on Saturday morning without even a flake of snow falling!

By early Saturday morning, the teams are all lined up on the side streets along 4^th Avenue. Imagine having 80 teams – that’s 80 trucks with 80 dog trailers, 2 sleds for every team and how many dogs would that be if each team can run 12 dogs – almost 1000! A few hundred volunteers help to keep things organized. Each team has 14 handlers who help the musher bring the team to the starting line. The teams start at two-minute intervals. Every musher and Iditarider are introduced and then their countdown begins, 5-4-3-2-1-GO! There are thousands of spectators who line the 11-mile route that eventually leaves the city streets and continues along the beautiful Anchorage trail system. In past years, the Ceremonial Leg of the race went 22 miles to Eagle River and was included in the recorded time but not anymore. Time doesn’t start until the Restart at Willow.

We all were curious about the Iditarider – what’s that? Iditariders are people who bid in an auction to win a ride in a musher’s sled for the 11 mile Ceremonial Start. Can you imagine riding 11 miles with Dee Dee Jonrowe, Jeff King, Martin Buser, Rick Swenson, Gary Paulson or even a rookie musher? Wouldn’t that be great? Handler got to be an Iditarider when she was Teacher on the Trail. Her Iditamusher was Tollef Monson. It was great to meet Tollef, help harness and bootie the dogs and then ride in the sled. The money earned in the Iditarider Auction is used by the Iditarod Trail Committee to cover the expenses of the race.

I had a little free time after Lead Dog School one day so I decided to check Wikipedia for some information about Anchorage. This is what I learned. Nearly 280,000 people live in Anchorage – it’s the largest city in Alaska with 40% of the state’s population. One might expect that Anchorage would be the capitol of Alaska – not so, it’s Juneau. The Municipality of Anchorage is actually larger than the state of Rhode Island. Anchorage was founded in 1914.

You can’t research Anchorage without finding info on a terrible natural disaster. On March 27 of 1964, the Good Friday Earthquake hit Anchorage. The 9.2 magnitude quake lasted about 5 minutes. Many people were killed and many buildings and roads were destroyed. It took many years to rebuild after the quake.

In March for the Ceremonial Start of Iditarod, spectators, mushers and dogs can expect the low temperature to be 18 and the high to be 34 degrees Fahrenheit. The coldest month of the year is January when the temperature ranges between 9 and 22°. Average snowfall for the winter is 70 inches. The warmest month is July with lows in the 50’s and highs in the 60’s. Average yearly rainfall is just 16 inches.

Anchorage has very long summer days. During the summer, it never really gets dark. The sun comes up very early and sets very late leaving only a few hours of twilight instead of darkness. Daylight in winter is very short. There are active volcanoes near Anchorage. It’s common to see moose in the city – they are a big hazard for drivers. There are black bears, a few grizzlies, wolves, beaver and fox that live in Anchorage. Except for the moose and grizzly bears, this sounds like Wisconsin.

How does Anchorage’s temperature and precipitation compare to where you live? How about hours of daylight? What kinds of wildlife are common to where you live and Anchorage? Like I did, you can go to Wikipedia to learn more about the City of Anchorage and do many comparisons with where you live.

Well, there you have it – a little information about the Ceremonial Start of Iditarod and a little information about Anchorage, the city that hosts the event. Next, Handler is going to tell us about the Restart – stay tuned for that story and remember, in everything, do your best every day.

Born to Run,

Sanka