Hello Boys and Girls,

Did you know that rookie mushers have to go to Iditarod School?

Each year, rookie mushers have to attend special meetings and classes in Alaska so that they learn all they need to know to be ready to start the race in downtown Anchorage on the first Saturday in March. Dog care, training tips, supplies they need to send to checkpoints, gear, and information about the trail are some of the topics that the rookie mushers learn about during their two day December rookie musher ’school’.

A rookie musher is a musher who is running in his or her first Iditarod or a musher who hasn’t finished the race. A rookie musher may have signed up before and even started the race.

Sometimes a musher withdraws before the race. This means that the musher makes a decision before the start of the race to take this or her name off the list and not race. There are many reasons why a musher might do that. First, mushers have to be qualified to run a race like Iditarod. So, if they haven’t met those qualifications by the time the race starts, they have to withdraw. February 14 is the last day to withdraw from the race. Keep your eye on the musher list from now until then to see how many rookie mushers will be racing to Nome.

Some of the mushers have started to race in Iditarod before but scratched from the race. There are many reasons why a musher might scratch. A broken sled, a team that just isn’t running the way it did in training, or an injury to the musher are some of the reasons why a musher scratches. When the musher signs up to run Iditarod again, they are still a rookie musher because they didn’t finish the full race.

The rookie musher’s ’school’ is a mandatory meeting. That means that all rookies must be at the meeting, even if they don’t live in Alaska. The rookies have the chance to hear veteran mushers, those that have finished the race and champion mushers, those that have won the race, speak about experiences give them first hand information and advice. This year, the mushers went to Iditarod Champion Martin Buser’s kennel and home to learn details from Martin. Rookie mushers find this meeting very important and a chance to ask questions.

As of this writing, there are 39 rookie mushers who have signed up to run this year’s race. That means 39 rookies have the same goal or dream, starting the race and finishing it. It is fun to guess or predict how many rookies and veterans will start the race and how many will finish the race. The same challenges and obstacles are there for all of the mushers no matter if they are rookies or veterans who have experienced finishing the race in Nome. Weather conditions, trail conditions, the training of the dog team, the experiences the musher and dogs have had, what the musher has learned, and decisions each musher makes, all play important roles in the outcome of the race.

One thing is certain, a musher will be first and a musher will be last. The rest of the mushers will finish some where in between those two mushers. Many dreams and goals will be chased along the trail as the mushers travel with dog teams from Anchorage to Nome.

Read about the mushers and make your predictions. Think about what the mushers and the dogs are doing to get ready for the race. Think about your own goals. Are there things that are mandatory for you to attend? Have you ever withdrawn or scratched from something? What does thinking about these questions make you wonder about?

While you do all of that thinking, I’ll go out and track down a rookie or two this week. I’ll find out more information for you! What do you want to know?

Lots of Tail Wags,

Zuma

PS What did Iditarod Champion Jeff King tell the rookie mushers when he spoke to them at ’school’? You can view a free video clip on the front page of the website at Iditarod’s website to find out. Consider subscribing to Iditarod Insider so you get video from the trail during the race. Your teachers will love Iditarod Insider because there are lots of lesson ideas for aweseome activities to use in the classroom. Check out the free video clips on the website and check out Iditarod Insider.