index

Yukon Quest Sled Dog Race: Tougher than Iditarod?

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:07:34 +0100

The Yukon Quest 1,000-mile International Sled Dog Race, or simply Yukon Quest, is a sled dog race run every February between Fairbanks, Alaska, and Whitehorse, Yukon. Because of the harsh winter conditions, difficult trail, and the limited support that competitors are allowed, it is considered the "most difficult sled dog race in the world",[1] or even the "toughest race in the world".[2]

In the competition, first run in 1984, a dog team leader (called a musher) and a team of 6 to 14 dogs race for 10 to 20 days. The course follows the route of the historic 1890s Klondike Gold Rush, mail delivery, and transportation routes between Fairbanks, Dawson City, and Whitehorse. Mushers pack up to 250 pounds (113 kg) of equipment and provisions for themselves and their dogs to survive between checkpoints. They are permitted to leave dogs at checkpoints and dog drops, but not to replace them. Sleds may not be replaced (without penalty) and mushers cannot accept help from non-racers except at Dawson City, the halfway mark. Ten checkpoints and four dog drops, some more than 200 miles (322 km) apart, lie along the trail. Veterinarians are present at each to ensure the health and welfare of the dogs, give advice, and provide veterinary care for dropped dogs; together with the race marshal or a race judge, they may remove a dog or team from the race for medical or other reasons.

The route runs on frozen rivers, over four mountain ranges, and through isolated northern villages. Racers cover 1,016 miles (1,635 km) or more. Temperatures commonly drop as low as −60 °F (−51 °C), and winds can reach 50 miles per hour (80 km/h) at higher elevations. Sonny Lindner won the inaugural race in 1984 from a field of 26 teams. The fastest run took place in 2009, when Sebastian Schnuelle finished after 9 days, 23 hours, and 20 minutes. The 2009 competition also had the closest one-two finish, as Schnuelle beat second-place Hugh Neff by just four minutes. Lance Mackey, who held the quickest finish record before Schnuelle, is the only musher to have won the race four times. In 2007, he became the first to win both the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, a feat he repeated the following year. The longest race time was in 1988, when Ty Halvorson took 20 days, 8 hours, and 29 minutes to finish. In 2000, Aliy Zirkle became the first woman to win the race, in 10 days, 22 hours, and 57 minutes. To allow participation in both the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod, the 2010 Yukon Quest will begin in Fairbanks one week earlier than usual—on February 6. Yukon Quest International, which runs the Yukon Quest sled dog race, also runs two shorter races: the Junior Quest and the Yukon Quest 300 (previously the Yukon Quest 250).

History

The idea for the Yukon Quest originated in April 1983 during a bar-room discussion among four Alaskans: LeRoy Shank, Roger Williams, Ron Rosser, and Willie Libb.[3] The four proposed a thousand-mile sled dog race from Fairbanks, Alaska to Whitehorse, Yukon, to celebrate the Klondike Gold Rush-era mail and transportation routes between the two.[4] They disdained the many checkpoints and stages of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race[5] and envisioned an endurance race in which racers would rely on themselves and survival would be as important as speed.[6] "We wanted more of a Bush experience, a race that would put a little woodsmanship into it", Shank said at the race's 25th anniversary.[4]

This remained a vague plan until August 1983, when the first public organizational meetings took place.[4] Fundraising began, and the start date for the race was optimistically moved forward from February 1985 to February 25, 1984. The entry fee for the first race was $500, and Murray Clayton of Haines, Alaska became the first person to enter when he paid his fee in October 1983.[4] In December 1983, the race was officially named the Yukon Quest.[7] Two more months of planning followed, and a crew of volunteers was organized to staff the checkpoints and place trail markers.[4] On February 25, 1984, 26 racers left Fairbanks for Whitehorse.[8] Each team was limited to a maximum of 12 dogs, and racers had to finish with no fewer than nine. They also had to haul 25 pounds (11 kg) of food per dog (300 pounds (136 kg) total) to cover the long distances between checkpoints.[4]

Numerous problems occurred in the first race. The leading mushers had to break trail because the snowmobile intended for the task broke down. Trail markers often were absent or misplaced, and no preparations had been made for racers in Dawson City until organizer Roger Williams flew there shortly after the race began. After Dawson City, mushers had their dogs and sleds trucked 60 miles (97 km) to avoid a section of snowless trail, then had to deal with open sections of the Yukon River near Whitehorse due to above-average temperatures.[8] The eventual winner of the inaugural race, Sonny Lindner, was greeted with little fanfare on his arrival. On the race's 25th anniversary, he recalled, "I think it was 90 percent (camping) trip and maybe a little bit of racing."[8]

First decade

After the inaugural race, organizers improved the marking of the trail for the first contest held in the Whitehorse–Fairbanks direction. Musher Bill Cotter said, "The trail was so nice that it was difficult to keep from going too fast."[9] The race grew in popularity over the next few years. In 1988 and again in 1989, 47 mushers entered. In 1989, 31 completed the race—the most that have ever finished it.[10] In 1990, Connie and Terri Frerichs became the first (and so far only) mother and daughter to compete in the same Yukon Quest: Terri finished 21st, beating her mother (22nd) by 26 minutes.[11] The 1991 race saw eight teams withdraw in the first quarter because of an outbreak of a canine disease called the "Healy Virus". Thirty-five more dogs were sickened before the spread of the virus was halted by colder weather halfway through the race.[12] In 1992, unseasonable warmth caused problems in the first half of the race, and the second was affected by bitter cold.[13] The head veterinarian of that race, Jeannie Olson, was replaced after she offered canine acupuncture to several mushers. Though not then forbidden by any rule, this violated equal-treatment guidelines because she did not offer the treatment to every musher.[14] At the end of that race, George Cook became the first musher since 1984 to finish short of Whitehorse when open water on the Yukon River prevented him from continuing. Because he did not quit, race officials gave him the Red Lantern Award.[15]

Following the 1992 race, controversy erupted when the Alaska board of directors of Yukon Quest International informed the Yukon board that they were considering dropping the Yukon half of the Quest because Yukon officials did not meet fundraising goals. Alaska officials also believed it would be easier to manage an Alaska-only race.[16] A crisis was averted when the Yukon board of directors agreed to raise more money and the two sides formed a joint board of directors.[17] The 1993 race was run as usual, but Jeff Mann had a more eventful race than most. When a moose attacked his dog team, he was forced to kill it with an axe, then butcher it according to Quest rules. Later, he was penalized 90 minutes for borrowing a reporter's head lantern. Finally, after the conclusion of the race, he was fined half his winnings when his dogs tested positive for ibuprofen.[18]

In the 1994 race, Alaskan Bruce Cosgrove was denied entry by Canadian customs officials in the pre-race verification process, the first and only time a musher has been denied entry into either Canada or Alaska. Cosgrove started the race, but quit before the border.[19] Following the race, controversy again erupted when Alaska Yukon Quest officials announced they would unilaterally eliminate Whitehorse from the Yukon Quest and run a cheaper Fairbanks-to-Dawson City race. Members of the Yukon Quest organization revolted against this and voted to evict the board members who had proposed it.[17]

Second decade

The 1995 race featured 22 mushers, of whom 13 finished.[20] Budget problems caused the first prize to drop by 25% to $15,000, contributing to the low participation.[21] This problem was fixed for the 1996 race, with a first-place prize of $25,000.[21] The 1997 race was won by Rick Mackey, brother of later Quest winner Lance Mackey; the two are the only brother-brother winning tandem in Quest history.[22] Following the 1997 race, financial troubles again arose, this time on the Alaska side. Canadian organizers secured international sponsorship for the 1998 race, and when they refused to let this sponsorship money be used to pay debts accumulated in Alaska, members of the Alaska board threatened to host a separate competition. In the end, the Alaska board members were forced to resign, and a deal was worked out between the two sides.[23]
A string of harnessed dogs runs from left to right as spectators watch behind a placard-laden barricade.
Dogs race ahead at the start of the 2003 Yukon Quest in Whitehorse.

The 1998 race was run on schedule and had 38 entrants.[24] The 1999 race was won by Alaska Native veterinarian Ramy Brooks, who defeated Mark May by 10 minutes.[25] In 2000, Aliy Zirkle became the first woman to win the Yukon Quest after taking 10 days, 22 hours, and 57 minutes to trek the 1,000 miles (1,609 km).[26] Also in 2000, Yukon Quest International added two races: the Quest 250 (today the Quest 300) and the Junior Quest[27] (both described below). Competitors in each have gone on to participate in the Yukon Quest. The first of these graduated mushers competed in the 2001 race, won by Tim Osmar.[27]

In 2002, the Yukon Quest was won by Hans Gatt, an Austrian-born resident of British Columbia and the first European to win. This was the first of three consecutive wins, making him the first three-time winner.[28] In 2003, Gatt's second win was truncated by a lack of snow near Whitehorse. Unseasonable warmth forced organizers to truck mushers and their dog teams to Braeburn before continuing what became a 921 miles (1,482 km) competition.[29] The 2004 race saw 31 mushers start the race and 20 finish, a drop-out rate of 35%.[30] During the first 24 years of the competition, there were 776 starters and 513 finishers.[30] Though 90 more mushers attempted the race in the first 12 years than in the next dozen runnings, there is little difference in the percentage that did not finish (35% in 1984–1995; 33% in 1996–2007).[30]

Third decade

In 2005, first-time participant Lance Mackey broke Hans Gatt's three-win streak. Mackey finished in 11 days, 32 seconds.[31] The victory was the first of four straight wins by Mackey, who holds the record for most consecutive wins and is the only four-time winner. During Mackey's second win, a fierce storm atop Eagle Summit caused a whiteout that forced seven mushers and dog teams to be evacuated by helicopter. Partly because of the storm, only 11 finished the 2006 race—the fewest ever.[32] The finishers also endured an unusual course: because snow was scarce near Whitehorse, they doubled back and finished in Dawson City after racing the 1,000 miles (1,609 km).[33] In 2007, three dogs were killed in unrelated incidents, but Mackey tied Gatt's record of three consecutive wins. One month later, Mackey became the first person to win both the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod in the same year.[34] Mackey's fourth win came during the 2008 race, the first Yukon Quest to end in Whitehorse since 2003.[33]

Because of the late 2000s recession, the 2009 Yukon Quest purse was reduced to $151,000 from a planned total of $200,000. As a result, the first prize was reduced to $30,000 from the planned $35,000.[35] Partly because of this, Mackey withdrew before the race, making it easier for a newcomer to win.[36] In the closest one–two finish, German Sebastian Schnuelle completed the race faster than anyone before, finishing that year's 1,016-mile (1,635 km) trip in 9 days, 23 hours, and 20 minutes. He was just four minutes ahead of Hugh Neff.[37]

Following the 2009 race, officials decided to advance the competition's start date by one week to better accommodate mushers also participating in the Iditarod. The 2010 race will start in Fairbanks on February 6, 2010.[38] That race will run a slightly changed route because the building that housed the dog drop at McCabe Creek burned down shortly after the 2009 competition.[39]

Route

The course of the race varies slightly from year to year because of ice conditions on the Yukon River, snowfall, and other factors. The length of the route has also fluctuated, ranging from 921 miles (1,482 km)[29] in the weather-shortened 2003 race to 1,023 miles (1,646 km) in 1998.[40] In even-numbered years, the race starts in Fairbanks and ends in Whitehorse. In odd-numbered years, the start and finish lines switch.[41]

The route follows the Yukon River for much of its course and travels over four mountains: King Solomon's Dome, Eagle Summit, American Summit, and Rosebud Summit.[42] Its length is equivalent to the distance between England and Africa, and the distance between some checkpoints is the breadth of Ireland.[43] Racers endure ice, snow, and extreme cold. Wildlife is common on the trail, and participants sometimes face challenges from moose and wolves.[44][45] Because of the harsh conditions, the Yukon Quest has been called the "most difficult sled dog race in the world"[1] and the "toughest race in the world".[2][46]

Pre-race preparation

Because of the extreme difficulty of the competition, several stages of preparation are needed. The first is the food drop, when mushers and race officials position caches of food and supplies at race checkpoints.[47] This is necessary because mushers may only use their supplies along the route, reflecting the Gold Rush era, when dog trains would resupply at points along the trail.[48] One week after the food drop, all dogs participating in the race undergo a preliminary veterinarian inspection to ensure they are healthy enough to race 1,000 miles in subarctic conditions.[49] The final stage of formal preparation is two days before the race, when mushers pick their starting order from a hat.[50]

Whitehorse to Braeburn

The traditional starting line is in Whitehorse on First Avenue, near the former White Pass and Yukon Route train station, which today houses the Canadian offices of Yukon Quest International.[51] Shortly after leaving the starting line, racers follow the frozen Yukon River north out of town.[52] Crossing onto the Takhini River, mushers follow it north[53] to the Klondike-era Overland Trail. Racers take the trail to Braeburn Lodge, the first checkpoint.

This trail segment is about 100 miles (161 km) long.[42] The terrain consists of small hills and frequent frozen streams and lakes.[54] When the race runs from Fairbanks to Whitehorse, the Braeburn checkpoint is the site of a mandatory eight-hour stop to ensure the health of mushers' dogs before the final stage.

Braeburn to Pelly Crossing

In this leg of the race, mushers travel 77 miles (124 km) to the checkpoint at Carmacks, followed by 73 miles (117 km) to Pelly Crossing.[42]
A low-slung wooden structure is surrounded by vehicles on a dirt parking lot
Braeburn Lodge is the first checkpoint in the Whitehorse–Fairbanks direction.

Coming out of Braeburn, competitors cross the Klondike Highway and proceed east for about 10 miles (16 km) to Coghlan Lake. From there they turn north, then northwest, and travel along a chain of lakes that stretches for about 30 miles (48 km).[55] They then enter a notorious stretch of heavily forested hills nicknamed "Pinball Alley"[56] for the way the rough terrain bounces sleds into trees, rocks, and other obstacles. Trees are so scarred from repeated sled impacts that they have lost their bark on one side.[57] In 1998, racer Brenda Mackey was jolted around so much by the rough trail that her sled became wedged between two trees, forcing her to cut one down to continue.[58]

After Pinball Alley, racers briefly mush along the Yukon River before climbing the riverbank to the Carmacks checkpoint.[59] They then follow a road for about 15 miles (24 km) and turn onto a firebreak trail. After departing the trail, they travel alongside and across the Yukon River to McCabe Creek, the first dog drop on the Whitehorse–Fairbanks route.[60] Leaving McCabe Creek, the race trail parallels a driveway and the Klondike Highway for several miles before turning north to cross the Pelly Burn, an area scorched by a wildfire in 1995.[61] Because the fire destroyed much of the forest in the area, this portion of the trail has few obstacles and is considered fast.[62] From the McCabe Creek site it is about 32 miles (51 km) to Pelly Crossing.[62]

Pelly Crossing to Dawson City

The stretch between Pelly Crossing and Dawson City is the greatest distance between checkpoints of any sled dog competition in the world.[63] Between the two sites are 201 miles (323 km) of open trail, marked only by a dog drop at Scroggie Creek, an abandoned gold-mining site activated only during the Yukon Quest.[42]

From Pelly Crossing, mushers travel west on the frozen Pelly River, or on a road that parallels the river if ice conditions are poor. At Stepping Stone, shortly before the Pelly and Yukon rivers meet, they can rest at a hospitality stop before turning north. [64] From Stepping Stone to Scroggie Creek the trail consists of a mining road or "cat" road, named for the Caterpillar tracked mining vehicles that use it. Before organizers coordinated schedules with the mining equipment operators, racers often had to contend with heavy machinery blocking the trail or turning it into a muddy path.[65] The Scroggie Creek dog drop is at the confluence of the Stewart River and Scroggie Creek.[66]

After Scroggie Creek, the trail switches from a westerly direction to almost directly north. At this point, mushers enter the gold-mining district surrounding Dawson City. From the Stewart River adjacent to Scroggie, the trail climbs, crossing the Yukon Territory's Black Hills.[67] Fifty miles (80 km) from Dawson City and 55 miles (89 km) from Scroggie Creek, it crosses the Indian River, and mushers begin the climb to King Solomon's Dome, the highest point (4,002 feet (1,220 m)) on the trail.[67] The trail ascends more gradually in the Whitehorse–Fairbanks route than in the opposite direction, where mushers have to endure several switchbacks.[68] When mushers start in Whitehorse, they already have gained several thousand feet from the ascent into the Black Hills, including a climb over 3,550-foot (1,082 m) Eureka Dome.[69] The main difficulties come during the descent from King Solomon's Dome to Bonanza Creek, the epicenter of the Klondike Gold Rush.[70] After reaching the creek, mushers thread through an area of mining waste[71] and follow the Klondike River to Dawson City, the halfway point of the race. They are required to rest for 36 hours in Dawson City.

Dawson City to Eagle

The distance from Dawson City to Eagle, the first checkpoint in Alaska for the Whitehorse–Fairbanks route, is 147 miles (237 km).[42] The second half of the race is conducted in a time-even fashion: mushers leave in staggered order, their rest times adjusted to make up for the staggered start.[73]

Racers exit Dawson City on the Yukon River and follow it for about 50 miles (80 km) to the Fortymile River hospitality stop.[67] The river's name comes from its distance from Fort Reliance, an abandoned trading post established in 1874.[74] From the hospitality stop, mushers travel southwest on the Fortymile River in what is one of the coldest portions of the race, because of cold air sinking to the bottom of the river valley.[75] The trail on the river crosses the Alaska–Canada border, noticeable only because of the border vista, a strip of land cleared of all foliage.[76] Shortly past the border, the river turns northwest, and mushers leave its frozen surface when it meets the Taylor Highway,[67] a road closed to automobile traffic during the winter. As the trail follows the highway for 49 miles (79 km) conditions are often hazardous, with high winds and drifting snow that can obscure trail markers. After climbing the 3,420-foot (1,042 m) American Summit,[42] the trail gradually descends 20 miles (32 km) to Eagle, on the banks of the Yukon River.[67]

Eagle to Central

The route from Eagle to Central covers a distance of 233 miles (375 km).[42] In winter, Eagle is buffeted by high winds and drifting snow funneled through the town by nearby Eagle Bluff, which stands 300 feet (91 m) above the Yukon River.[77] Because it is the first stop in the United States, competitors are greeted at Eagle by a United States Department of Homeland Security official who checks passports and entry documents.[78]

After leaving Eagle, mushers travel northwest for 159 miles (256 km) on the Yukon River,[42] except for a few short portages.[67] During this stretch, two hospitality stops are available. The first is 28 miles (45 km) from Eagle at Trout Creek.[79] The next is Biederman's Cabin, the former home of Charlie Biederman, one of the last people to deliver mail by sled dog. (The final sled dog mail route was canceled in 1963, and Biederman's sled hangs in the National Postal Museum.)[80][81] A dog drop site is located 18 miles (29 km) from Biederman's Cabin at Slaven's Cabin, a historic site operated by the National Park Service.[82] Some 60 miles (97 km) past Slaven's Cabin mushers arrive in Circle,[83] so named because its founders believed it was on the Arctic Circle. (Circle is actually about 50 miles (80 km) south of that line.)[84]

From Circle, it is 74 miles (119 km) to the checkpoint in Central.[42] Mushers follow Birch Creek south until just before Central Hot Springs. This area, along with the Fortymile stretch, is considered among the coldest on the trail, and mushers are advised to prepare for −60 °F (−51 °C) temperatures.[83] Turning west, they travel through frozen swamps before reaching the Steese Roadhouse checkpoint in Central.[85]

Central to Two Rivers

From Central to the final (or first, in the Fairbanks–Whitehorse direction) checkpoint in Two Rivers is 115 miles (185 km).[42] Despite the comparative closeness of the checkpoints and the location of a dog drop between them, this is considered the most difficult stretch of dog sled trail in the world.[86] At this point, mushers must climb the two steepest and most difficult mountains on the trail: Eagle Summit and Rosebud Summit.[42]

After leaving Central, mushers head west, paralleling the Steese Highway, which connects Central and Circle with Fairbanks. The trail travels through frozen swamps, mining areas, and firebreaks for about 20 miles (32 km). Mushers then encounter the Steese Highway for a second time before crossing several creeks to begin the ascent of Eagle Summit.[83] They eventually climb above the tree line and are exposed to the wind as they continue upward. The weather atop Eagle Summit is harsh as this is a convergence zone between the Yukon Flats to the north and the low ground of the Tanana Valley to the south. A differential in the weather within the two valleys causes high winds and precipitation when there is moisture in the atmosphere.[87] The final few hundred yards of the climb consists of a 30-degree slope often scoured to bare rock and tundra by the fierce wind.[88] The crossing point itself is a symmetrical saddle, with two peaks of similar height separated by 100 yards (91 m).[89] The south side of Eagle Summit is not as steep, and mushers generally have an easier time reaching the dog drop at Mile 101.[83] When descending the steep northern slope of Eagle Summit on the Fairbanks–Whitehorse route, many mushers wrap their sled runners in chains to increase friction and slow the plunge.[90]
A view of a valley from a barren mountain summit with brown and yellow ground covering
The eastern slope of Eagle Summit, seen in August 2008 looking north

The Mile 101 dog drop is a cabin at mile marker 101 (the distance from Fairbanks) on the Steese Highway. The cabin gives mushers the opportunity for a short rest between Eagle Summit and Rosebud Summit.[91] The ascent of Rosebud Summit begins about 10 miles (16 km) south of the dog drop. It consists of a gradual climb of 5 miles (8.0 km) followed by a steep descent into the valley that contains the north fork of the Chena River. The descent also brings mushers back into forested terrain.[92] The trail then parallels a road for about 27 miles (43 km) before entering the final checkpoint at Twin Bears Campground near Two Rivers.[83]

Two Rivers to Fairbanks

Two Rivers is the final checkpoint in the Whitehorse–Fairbanks route. Mushers are required to rest at least eight hours in Two Rivers to ensure the health of their dogs during the final leg of the race. The terrain in this stretch is among the easiest on the trail, with gently rolling hills and forest which gradually change into an urban landscape as racers approach Fairbanks.[93] The greatest challenge for racers in the Two Rivers area is distinguishing the Yukon Quest trail from other sled dog trails, many of which have similar markings.[94] Mushers have occasionally been deceived by these markings and taken wrong turns.[93][95]

Beyond Two Rivers the trail reaches the Chena River northwest of Fairbanks. This is the final stretch, and mushers use the river to enter Fairbanks and reach the finish line,[96] which is on the river itself in the middle of downtown Fairbanks. Regardless of the timing of the finish, several thousand spectators typically gather to watch the first musher cross the finish line.[96]
A panoramic image shows two lines of spectators behind barricades on either side of a starting chute with dog teams exiting left to right, between the lines of spectators
The Fairbanks start/finish line at the start of the 2008 Yukon Quest

Route changes

The 1984 route was slightly different from today's. It had just one non-checkpoint dog drop, at the Mile 101 location,[97] and bypassed American Summit, Pelly Junction, and Braeburn. Instead of running through Braeburn, mushers traveled across Lake Laberge for 60 miles (97 km) between Whitehorse and Minto.[98] The inaugural race also included a checkpoint at Chena Hot Springs Resort near Fairbanks. This site was moved to nearby Angel Creek after mushers complained that the hot springs melted nearby snow, causing their dogs to become wet—an extreme hazard in sub-freezing temperatures.[99] Two additional dog drops were added for the 1994 race: Biederman's Cabin (since replaced by Slaven's Cabin) and McCabe Creek.[97] In 1995 the Whitehorse end of the trail was moved away from Lake Laberge to near the Takhini River.[100] Additional changes that year included the rerouting of the trail around the southern and eastern sides of King Solomon's Dome south of Dawson City[101] and the introduction of the Scroggie Creek dog drop site on the shore of the Stewart River.[97]

In 1996, the trail was rerouted through Pelly Crossing and a checkpoint was added there, and the Lake Laberge stretch was replaced by a route through Braeburn and along the Dawson-Whitehorse Overland Trail.[101] In 1997, mushers were routed through the Chena River Lakes Flood Control Project and to the Alaska town of North Pole before continuing on to Fairbanks.[102] The North Pole loop was removed before the 2009 race, and mushers were directed through Two Rivers instead.[103]

Weather

The Yukon Quest trail is in the subarctic climate range. In Fairbanks, the average February temperature is −3.8 °F (−20 °C), but −40 °F (−40 °C) is not uncommon, and temperatures have dropped to −58 °F (−50 °C).[104] An average of 7.3 inches (185 mm) of snow falls in February, with average snowpack depth of 22 inches (559 mm).[104]

Outside the sheltered urban areas of Fairbanks, Whitehorse, and Dawson City, temperatures and snowfall are often more extreme. During the 2008 race, competitors started in −40 °F (−40 °C) temperatures in Fairbanks and then faced winds of 25 miles per hour (40 km/h) on the trail, resulting in severe wind chills.[105] At higher elevations, such as the crossings of Rosebud and Eagle summits, whiteout blizzards are common. In the 2006 race, 12 teams were struck by a massive storm that eventually caused the evacuation of seven teams by helicopter.[106][107][108] In 2009, mushers endured winds up to 50 miles per hour (80 km/h), blowing snow, and subzero temperatures atop Eagle Summit,[109] where conditions had been even worse in a storm during the 1988 race, when wind chill temperatures dropped below −100 °F (−73 °C).[110]

The extreme temperatures pose a serious health hazard. Frostbite is common, as is hypothermia. In the 1988 Yukon Quest, Jeff King suffered an entirely frozen hand because of nerve damage from an earlier injury which left him unable to feel the cold. King said his hand became "like something from a frozen corpse".[111] In 1989, King and his team drove through a break in the Yukon River in −38 °F (−38.9 °C) temperatures. Frozen by the extreme cold, King managed to reach a cabin and thaw out.[112] Other racers have suffered permanent damage from the cold: Lance Mackey suffered frostbitten feet during the 2008 Yukon Quest,[113] and Hugh Neff lost the tips of several toes in the 2004 race.[114]

Participants

Since the race's inception in 1984, 353 people from 11 countries have competed in the Yukon Quest, some many times. The race attracts from 21 (in 1996)[115] to 47 (in 1988 and 1989)[10] mushers each year. Of the 776 entries from 1984 to 2007, 263 (34%) did not finish.[30] The racers have come from various professions: taxicab drivers, swimming instructors, coal miners, tax assessors, lawyers, fur trappers, journalists, and a car salesman have all entered.[10]

At the end of the competition, racers are given awards for feats performed on the trail. The foremost is the championship award, given to the winner. Accompanying this is the Golden Harness Award, given to the winner's two lead sled dogs.[116] The next award is the Veterinarians Choice Award, which is voted on by race veterinarians and given to the musher who took the best care of his or her dogs during the race.[116] Other awards include the Challenge of the North Award—given to the musher who "exemplifies the spirit of the Yukon Quest"—and the Sportsmanship Award, given to the most sportsmanlike competitor, as chosen by a vote of the mushers.[116]

The Rookie of the Year Award is given to the highest-finishing first-time competitor. The Dawson Award, consisting of four ounces of gold, is given to the first musher to reach Dawson City (the midpoint) who also finishes the competition.[116] The final award is the Red Lantern, given to the last official finisher of the year's race.[116] Two awards have been discontinued: the Kiwanis Award, given to the first musher to cross the Alaska–Yukon border, and the Mayor's Award, given to the Yukon Quest champion by the Mayor of Fairbanks.[116]

The most recent Yukon Quest champion is German-born Canadian Sebastian Schnuelle.[117] Iris Wood Sutton won the 2009 Red Lantern Award and its accompanying cash prize by taking 13 days, 23 hours, and 17 minutes to finish.[118] Michelle Phillips won the Veterinarian's Choice Award, Jamaican Newton Marshall won the Challenge of the North Award, Brent Sass won the Sportsmanship Award, William Kleedehn won the Dawson Award, and four-time Iditarod champion Martin Buser won the Rookie of the Year Award.

Dogs

Dogs in the Yukon Quest come in a variety of sizes and breeds, though the most common are Alaskan and Siberian Huskies weighing between 45 pounds (20 kg) and 70 pounds (32 kg).[120] The Alaskan Husky is not a recognized breed, but an amalgam of several different types bred for speed, stamina, and strength.[121] Siberian Huskies are a breed recognized by the American Kennel Club and are characterized by thick coats, stiff ears, a fox-like tail, and medium size.[122] Siberian Huskies are typically larger and slower than their Alaskan counterparts,[123] causing mushers to nickname the breed "Slowberians",[124] but have more pulling power. The difference was seen during the 1998 Yukon Quest, when Bruce Lee's team of Alaskan Huskies competed against André Nadeau's team of Siberians. Lee's team was faster than Nadeau's over short stretches, but Lee had to rest more often. Nadeau had a head start out of the final checkpoint, but Lee was able to overtake and pass him.[125]

Rules

The Yukon Quest encourages participants' self-sufficiency,[6] and one of its objectives is "[to] encourage and facilitate knowledge and application of the widest variety of bush skills and practices that form the foundation of Arctic survival."[126] On the trail, racers may not accept outside assistance and are limited in the changes they may make to their teams and sled.[127] There are 10 checkpoints and four additional locations where sick or injured dogs may be dropped from a team. Only four checkpoint stops are mandated: a 36-hour stop at Dawson City; a four-hour stop in Eagle, Alaska; a two-hour stop at the first checkpoint; and an eight-hour stop at the last.[128]

As well as food, camping equipment, and dog-care gear, mushers must carry an axe, a cold-weather sleeping bag, a pair of snowshoes, veterinary records, Quest promotional material, a cooker, and eight booties per dog.[129] Included in the required promotional material are numerous event covers intended to reflect the Quest's ancestry as a mail route.[130] One unusual rule requires mushers to immediately butcher any game animal killed during the race. This rule was applied in 1993, when a musher was attacked by a moose and killed it to protect himself.[129]

Entry requirements

Competitors must meet a series of written and unwritten requirements before entering. The first is that each musher must have a team of dogs. The race does not furnish any dogs, but participants have been known to lease or borrow dog teams rather than raise their own. In the 2009 Yukon Quest, for example, Newton Marshall from the Jamaica Dogsled Team borrowed a dog team from Canadian Hans Gatt.[131] Each competitor must have completed at least two sled dog races sanctioned by Yukon Quest International: one of 200 miles (320 km) and one of 300 miles (480 km).[132] Sanctioned races include the Copper Basin 300 and the Tustumena 200, Alaska races held before the Quest.[133][134]

Those who have completed at least 500 miles (805 km) of Quest-sanctioned racing are eligible to send in an entry form. This requires entrants to certify that they are older than 18, have not been censured by the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, and have never been convicted of animal abuse or neglect.[132] They must pay $1,500 or $2,000 for late entries.[132]

Dog health

Many of the Quest's rules are intended to ensure the health of dogs in hazardous conditions. This process begins before the race, when all dogs must be examined by race veterinarians, who certify that the animals are suited and healthy enough to participate.[49] Before the race, dog equipment also must be checked by race officials. Padded harnesses are required, each musher must carry an appropriate amount of food, and additional food supplies must be in position at checkpoints.[127]

Mushers must start the race with at most fourteen dogs and finish with no fewer than six.[127] Dogs are visually examined by veterinarians stationed at every checkpoint, and mushers can be ejected and banned from the race for mistreating dogs. Dog whips and forced feeding are forbidden.[135] Participating dogs may not receive injections during the race or be under the influence of performance-enhancing substances such as steroids. The race marshal may remove any team from the race for violations of these rules or substandard dog care.[135]

Penalties

The Yukon Quest's rules allow race officials latitude on whether to assess a time penalty or monetary fine on mushers who violate one or more regulations.[136] The most serious penalties can be assessed for mistreating dogs. Racers have been forcibly removed from the race for inadequate dog care; the most recent instance of this took place in 2008, when Donald Smidt was removed.[137] More common are minor time and monetary penalties. For example, Dan Kaduce was fined $500 of his eventual $9,000 winnings for missing roll call at a mandatory meeting in 2007. Fines of $500 also have been levied for not attending the finish banquet, littering, not wearing start and finish bibs, or losing veterinary records.[129] These minor penalties can have an effect on the race. In 2009, Hugh Neff, then in second place, was penalized two hours for mushing on the Steese Highway.[138] As a result, he finished four minutes behind Sebastian Schnuelle, the winner.[37]

Junior Yukon Quest and Yukon Quest 300

In addition to the main 1,000-mile sled dog race, the Yukon Quest organization operates two shorter races: the Junior Yukon Quest and the Yukon Quest 300.[139] The two began in 2000, though in its first three years the Quest 300 was only 250 miles and thus known as the Quest 250.

Junior Yukon Quest

The Junior Yukon Quest, or Junior Quest, is a 135-mile (217 km) race for mushers older than 14 but under 18.[140] Unlike the Yukon Quest, the Junior Quest does not change locations and always starts and ends in Fairbanks.[27] It is billed as an opportunity for young racers to experience a mid-distance sled dog race. They must plan a food drop, camp away from checkpoints, and carry much of the same equipment as mushers in the Yukon Quest and Yukon Quest 300.

Yukon Quest 300

The Yukon Quest 300 is a 300-mile (483 km) race along the regular Yukon Quest trail. It alternates starting locations along with the main race and is intended for less-experienced mushers training for longer races. The race is also a qualifier for the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race and the following year's Yukon Quest. Several mushers, including Fort Yukon Native Josh Cadzow, have used the race as a trial before entering the longer races.[141][142]

In 2009, the race was capped at 25 entries.[143] When the Quest 300 starts in Whitehorse, its course follows the main Yukon Quest trail until the Stepping Stone hospitality stop. From there, it turns southwest, ending in Minto Landing, Yukon.[143] The Fairbanks route follows the main trail to Circle, then reverses course, ending in Central.

Lance Mackey: 3-time Iditarod Winner, 4-time Yukon Quest Winner

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:00:03 +0100

Lance Mackey is an American dog musher and dog sled racer from Fairbanks, Alaska, who is a four-time winner of the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest and three-time winner of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Career

In 2007, Lance became the first person to win both the Yukon Quest and Iditarod in the same year. This feat was considered almost impossible by many and is considered one of the most impressive feats by a musher and he was nominated for a 2007 ESPY Award based on his performance. He also won the Veterinarians' Choice award after winning the 2007 Yukon Quest and said "This means more to me than winning this damn race". 2008 was an even better year: Lance won the Tustumena 200, followed by his fourth consecutive Yukon Quest and his second Iditarod. In 2009 he chose not to run the 2009 Yukon Quest but captured his third consecutive Iditarod.

Personal life

His father Dick Mackey was one of the founders of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, and won the event by one second over Rick Swenson in 1978. Lance's half-brother Rick Mackey also won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in 1983. All three of them won the race on their sixth attempt wearing bib number 13.

Mackey was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2001 but continued sled dog racing entering the 2002 Iditarod race. After scratching from that race, he took a full year off from racing to recover from the disease. He is now considered cancer-free; however, Mackey suffered nerve damage in his left index finger as a result of the operation to remove the cancerous tumor. The nerve damage caused such unbearable pain in the finger that Mackey chose to have the finger surgically removed.

Mackey is married to his high school sweetheart Tonya, who is also a musher. They have four children: Amanda, Brittney, Alanah, and Cain. They run the Comeback Kennel in Fairbanks, Alaska.

35th Iditarod 2007

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:04:35 +0100

The ceremonial start of the 35th annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race across the U.S. state of Alaska began amidst the crowds of Anchorage at 10 am on March 3, 2007, and the start of the competitive race, or "restart", began at 2 pm the next day in Willow. The race followed the southern route for 1,151 mi (1,852 km) across the Alaska Range, through the sparsely inhabited Interior, along the Yukon River, and then up the coast of the Bering Sea to the city of Nome.

Eighty two competitors started the race. Denali, Alaska musher Jeff King returned to defend his 2006 win, and the 2005 Iditarod winner Norwegian Robert Sørlie returned after skipping the 2006 event. Both were strong favorites to win. Other contenders included 4 time winners Martin Buser and Doug Swingley. However, the race was won by Lance Mackey in 9 days, 5:08:41, with an average speed of 5.07 mph (8.16 km/h).

Route

March 3: Ceremonial start in Anchorage

Ceremonial start at Anchorage: The mushers departed Anchorage on March 3, 2007. One of the largest crowds ever watched as 82 teams composed of a musher and twelve dogs pulling a dogsled, left the starting chute at the corner of Fourth and D Streets, and followed the 11 mi (18 km) route through the urban center to Campbell Air Strip. The mushers were accompanied on the sled by "Idita-riders", the high bidders in a pre-race auction.

March 4: Restart at Willow

Restart at Willow: The mushers departed the Community of Willow two minutes apart, in Bib order. The first musher (Perry Solmonson, Bib 2) left on March 4 at 2:00 p.m. AKST, and the last (Jeremy Keller, bib 820) left 2 hr 42 min later at 4:42 p.m.. The teams were increased to 16 dogs each. No additional dogs could be added, but they could be left behind at any of the checkpoints along the route.

Yentna: Ramy Brooks (bib 5) departed Yentna in first place on March 4 at 5:20 p.m.. the remainder of the top 5 were Jim Lanier, Zack Steer, Cim Smyth, and Paul Gebhardt

Skwentna: Aaron Burmeister who started in 47th position departed Skwentna in first place, on March 4 at 9:44 p.m.. The remainder of the top 5 were Robert Sorlie, Jason Barron, Rick Swenson, and three-time Yukon Quest champion Lance Mackey.

March 5: Alaska Range

Finger Lake: Four-time Iditarod winner and course record holder Martin Buser departed Finger Lake in first place, on March 5 at 4:35 am AKST. The remainder of the top 5 were Zack Steer, Jim Lanier, Cim Smyth, and Sebastian Schnuele. The field dropped to 79 teams after Butch Austin, Frank Sihler, and Jeff Holt scratched from the race.

Rainy Pass: Cim Smyth departed Rainy Pass at 10:05 AM AKST in first place. The remainder of the top five were Lance Mackey, Aliy Zirkle, Tim Osmar, and Ramey Smith.

Poor trail and weather conditions caused eleven teams to scratch from the race. Doug Swingley and Dee Dee Jonrowe scratched on March 5. Lachlan Clark, Richard Cummins, Melanie Gould, Richard Hum, and Jacques Philip scratched on March 6.. Tom Roig, Dan Huttunen, Perry Solmonson, and Scott White scratched on March 7. There were 68 teams remaining in the race.

Rohn: Jason Barron departed the checkpoint at the Rohn roadhouse at 8:47 PM AKST in first place. The remainder of the top five were Cim Smyth, Lance Mackey, Zack Steer, and Martin Buser.

The field dropped to 66 teams when G.B. Jones and Deborah Molburg Bicknell scratched from the race on March 9.

March 6: Alaskan Interior

Nikolai: Lance Mackey arrived in Nikolai in first place at 8:10 am AKST on March 6. He was followed by Paul Gebhardt (11:05 am), Zack Steer (11:48 am), Aliy Zirkle (11:48 am), and Jason Barron (12:34 pm).

Martin Buser departed the checkpoint in first place at 1:43 pm after only stopping for three minutes. He was followed by Lance Mackey (3:33 pm), Zack Steer (5:02 pm), Jeff King (5:12 pm), and Jason Barron (5:37 pm)

The field dropped to 65 teams when Ben Stamm scratched on March 8.

McGrath: Martin Buser arrived in McGrath at 6:47 pm and claimed the PenAir Spirit of Alaska award for being first to McGrath.[22] He was followed by Lance Mackey (8:22 pm), Zack Steer (9:50 pm), Jeff King (10:46 pm), and Jason Barron (11:22 pm). Mackey departed McGrath fifteen minutes later at 8:37 pm in first place. He was followed by Zack Steer (10:01 pm), Jeff King (10:55 pm), Jason Barron (11:25), and Paul Gebhardt (11:34 pm)

The field dropped to 64 teams when Dave Tresino scratched in McGrath on March 9th.

March 7

Takotna: Lance Mackey arrived in Takotna at 10:52 pm AKST on March 6 in first place. He was followed by Zack Steer (12:05 am, March 7), Jeff King (1:14 am), Jason Barron (1:38 am), and Paul Gebhardt (1:52 am). Zack Steer left Takotna 4 minutes later at 12:09 am in first place. He was followed by Jeff King (1:27 am), Martin Buser (2:21 am), Lance Mackey (04:14 am), and Paul Gebhardt (8:13 am).

Ophir: Zack Steer arrived in Ophir at 2:47 am in first place. He was followed by Jeff King at 4:05 am, Martin Buser at 4:33 am, Lance Mackey at 6:50 am, and Paul Gebhardt at 10:17 am. The rest of the top 10 arrived within 9 hours and 11 minutes of the leader. Lance Mackey left Ophir in first place at same time he arrived at 6:50 am. He was followed by Paul Gebhardt at 10:24 am, Mitch Seavey at 12:45 pm, Ed Iten at 12:46, and Cim Smyth at 2:50 pm

March 8: Halfway

Iditarod: Lance Mackey arrived in the ghost town of Iditarod in first place at 12:11 am. He won the GCI Dorothy Page Halfway Award and $4,000 in placer gold nuggets.[27] He was followed by Paul Gebhardt at 12:17 am, Ed Iten at 6:22 am, Mitch Seavey at 6:24 am, and Tollef Monson at 8:00 am. The rest of the top ten arrived within 7 hours and 22 minutes of Mackey's time. The top twenty arrived within 28 hours and 32 minutes of Mackey's time

Zack Steer departed Iditarod at 9:28 pm in first place after staying for only 10 minutes. He was followed by Martin Buser at 10:48 pm, Jeff King at 12:21 am on March 9, Lance Mackey at 2:31 am, and Paul Gebhardt at 2:44 am. The rest of the top ten departed within 11 hours and 42 minutes of Steer's time

The field dropped to 63 teams when Linwood Fielder scratched from the race on March 9th.

March 9: Yukon River

Shageluk: Martin Buser arrived in Shageluk in first place at 06:55 am and departed thirteen minutes later at 07:08 am. Jeff King arrived in Shageluk at 08:35 am and departed three minutes later at 08:38 am. An hour and half later, Lance Mackey arrived at 10:02 am and departs three minutes later at 10:05 am. Eight minutes later, Paul Gebhardt arrived at 11:13 am and departed at 11:15 am

Anvik: Martin Buser arrived in Anvik on the Yukon River at 10:45 am in first place and was awarded the First Musher to the Yukon Award which consists of a seven course meal and $3,500 in cash.[31] He was followed by Jeff King, Lance Mackey, Paul Gebhardt and Ramy Brooks at 12:00 pm, 1:22 pm, 1:28 pm and 5:05 pm respectively.

Martin Buser departed Anvik in first after taking his mandatory eight-hour layover at 6:45 pm. Heff departed Anvik in second after his eight-hour layover at 8:00 pm. Zack Steer departed Anvik in third after staying three minutes at 8:18 pm. Lance Mackey and Paul Gebhardt departed Anvik after taking their eight-hour layover at 9:22 pm and 9:28 pm.

Grayling: Martin Buser, Jeff King, Zack Steer, Lance Mackey, and Paul Gebhardt arrived in Grayling at 9:04 pm, 10:22 pm, 10:47 pm, 11:51 pm, and 12:01 am (March 10) respectively. [33]

Martin Buser, Jeff King, Lance Mackey, Paul Gebhardt, and Ramy Brooks departed Grayling at 9:06 pm, 10:32 pm, 11:56 pm, and 3:42 am (March 10). Zack Steer departed in sixth place at 4:47 am on March 10.

March 10

Eagle Island: Martin Buser and Jeff King arrived in Eagle Island at 6:30 am AKST and 7:50 am respectively. An hour and a half later, Paul Gebhardt and Lance Mackey arrived one minute apart at 9:34 am and 9:35 am. Zack Steer arrived 3 hours and 9 minutes later at 12:44 pm[34]

Jeff King left Eagle Island at 12:55 pm and was followed by Martin Buser at 1:00 pm. Lance Mackey and Paul departed Eagle Island two minutes apart at 3:43 pm and 3:45 pm. Ken Anderson departed at 8:35 am Zack Steer took his 8-hour layover and departed at 8:44 pm in sixth position.

Kaltag: Jeff King arrived in Kaltag at 9:23 pm in first place. Martin Buser arrived 52 minutes later at 10:15 pm. Lance Mackey and Paul Gebhardt arrived one minute apart at 12:05 am and 12:06. Ken Anderson arrived at 5:36 am AKDT. Zack Steer arrived at 5:48 am.

Jeff King departed Kaltag at 4:46 am in first place. Martin Buser departed 13 minutes later at 4:59 am. Paul Gebhardt and Lance Mackey departed six minutes apart at 6:23 and 6:28 am. Zack Steer departed 4 hours and 18 hours later at 10:46 pm.

March 11: Bering Sea

Unalakleet: Jeff King arrived in the village of Unalakleet in first place at 3:35 p.m. He was awarded the Wells Fargo "Gold Coast" Award and $2,500 in gold for being first to Norton Sound.[35] Lance Mackey arrived 45 minutes later at 4:20 p.m. with Martin Buser and Paul Gebhardt arriving within 7 minutes behind him. Zack Steer arrived four hours and 31 minutes later at 8:58 p.m. [36]

Gebhardt was the first to depart the checkpoint at 9:00 p.m. Mackey departed nineteen minutes later at 9:19 p.m. Buser and King departed within two minutes of each other at 9:43 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. respectfully. Steer departed the checkpoint at 2:16 a.m on March 12.

March 13: Dash to the Finish

White Mountain: Lance Mackey arrived in White Mountain first place at 1:46 am AKDT. Paul Gebhardt arrived 2 hours and 38 minutes later at 4:16 am. Martin Buser arrived 5 hours and 29 minutes later at 9:45 am. Zack Steer arrived 20 minutes later at 10:05 am. Jeff King arrived 1 hour and 28 minutes later at 11:33 am. [37]

Mackey, Gebhart, Buser, Steer, and King departed White Mountain after serving their mandatory 8-hour layovers at 9:46 am, 12:16 pm, 5:45 pm, 6:05 pm ,and 7:33 pm respectively.[37]

Safety: Mackey arrives in Safety in 4:49 pm AKDT in first and departed five minutes later at 4:54 pm. Gebhardt arrived in second place at 7:08 pm and departed four minutes later at 7:11 pm. On March 14, Steer and Buser arrived two minutes apart at 12:36 and 12:38 pm respectively. Steer departed at 12:37 am and Buser departed at 12:41 am. Two hours later, Jeff King arrived at 2:38 am and departed four minutes later at 2:42 pm.[38]

Nome: Mackey arrived under the burled arch in Nome in first place at 8:08:41 pm with a time of 9 days, 5 hours, 8 minutes, and 41 seconds. He is awarded $69,000 and a brand new Dodge pick-up truck. He was the first musher to win the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod in the same year. Gebhardt finished second two hours and 28 minutes later at 10:28:12 pm with a time of 9 days, 7 hours, 28 minutes, and 12 seconds. Steer finished third five hours and 48 minutes later at 03:46:07 with a time of 9 days, 12 hours, 46 minutes, and 7 seconds. Buser finished fourth 21 minutes after Steer at 04:07:04 with a time of 9 days, 13 hours, 7 minutes, and 4 seconds. King finished fifth two hours later at 06:05:17 am with a time of 9 days, 15 hours, 5 minutes, and 17 seconds.

Scratches

Twenty-three mushers have scratched from the race:

   1. Four-time champion Doug Swingley scratched in Rainy Pass on March 5, 2007 at 12:36 pm AKST due to broken ribs and a dislocated thumb.
   2. Jeff Holt scratched in Finger Lake at 5:03 pm AKST. Holt "said he was approaching Finger Lake when he felt a sharp pain, extreme discomfort and blacked out."
   3. Two-time runnerup Dee Dee Jonrowe scratched in Rainy Pass at 6:00 pm AKST on March 5, 2007 due to breaking her little finger
   4. Butch Austin scratched in Finger Lake on March 6, 2007 at 8:00 am AKST "due to injuries incurred before the race began."
   5. Frank Sihler scratched in Finger Lake on March 6, 2007 at 8:00 am AKST due to "a lack of leaders on his team."
   6. Jacques Philip scratched in Rainy Pass on March 6, 2007 at 8:00 am AKST. No official reason was given. However, in an interview with the Anchorage Daily News, race judge Art Church reported that Philip "just wasn’t having any fun out there."
   7. Lachlan Clark scratched in Rainy Pass on March 6, 2007 at 11:00 am AKST due to a torn "ligament in his ankle."
   8. Melanie Gould scratched in Rainy Pass on March 6, 2007 at 11:00 am AKST. Her "sled was damaged beyond repair during her trek from Finger Lake to Rainy Pass."
   9. Randy Cummins scratched in Rainy Pass on March 6, 2007 at 3:00 pm AKST due to a "shoulder injury and damage to his sled."
10. Richard Hum scratched in Rainy Pass on March 6, 2007 at 5:15 pm ASKT. No official reason was given.
11. Tom Roig scratched in Rainy Pass on March 7, 2007 at 5:30 pm AKST due to "a broken sled and team welfare"
12. Dan Huttunen scratched in Rainy Pass on March 7, 2007 at 10:00 am AKST. No official reason was given.
13. Perry Solmonson scratched in Rainy Pass on March 7, 2007 at 11:00 am AKST due to concerns about the weather and trail conditions
14. Scott White scratched in Rainy Pass on March 7, 2007 at 12:35 pm AKST due to "'uncooperative' weather conditions and frostbite."
15. Ben Stamm scratched in Nikolai on March 8, 2007 at 1:52 pm AKST due to a knee injury.
16. G.B Jones scratched in Rohn on March 9, 2007 at 9:42 am AKST after so that he could go back and find a dog, Afees, whom had slipped his harness and ran off.
17. Deborah Molburg Bicknell scratched in Rohn on March 9, 2007 at 10:00 am AKST "based on she what felt was in the best interest of her team."
18. Dave Tresino scratched in McGrath on March 9, 2007 at 1:35 pm due to sick dogs.
19. Linwood Fielder scratched in Iditarod on March 9, 2007 at 5:00 pm due to "severe frostbite on his ear."
20. Karen Ramstead scratched in Grayling on March 12, 2007 at 7:30 am after the death of Snickers, one of her dogs.
21. Gerald Sousa scratched in Grayling on March 12, 2007 at 4:00 pm because he "sustained a leg injury while traversing through Rainy Pass [and] determined his injury required medical attention."
22. Eric Rogers scratched in Iditarod on March 13, 2007 at 5:00 pm after damaging his sled and sustaining "leg and frostbite injuries."
23. Bruce Milne scratched in Kaltag on March 16, 2007 at 1:20 pm "based on the welfare of his team."

Awards

    * Martin Buser won the PenAir Spirit of Alaska Award on March 6, 2007 at 6:47 pm AKST for arriving first to the McGrath checkpoint. He was awarded a "spirit mask" by artist Orville Lind and a "$500 credit toward travel or freight shipment."

    * Lance Mackey won the GCI Dorothy Page Halfway award for arriving first to the Iditarod checkpoint on March 8, 2007 at 12:11 am AKST. He was awarded $4000 in placer gold nuggets.

    * Martin Buser won the First Musher to the Yukon Award for arriving to the Anvik checkpoint on March 9, 2007 at 10:45 a.m. AKST He was awarded a seven course meal and $3,500 in cash.

    * Jeff King won the Wells Fargo "Gold Coast" Award for arriving first to the Unalakleet checkpoint on Norton Sound on March 11, 2007 at 3:35 p.m. AKDT. He was awarded $2,500 in gold nuggets.

Ramy Brooks incident

Witnesses said they saw Ramy Brooks punch and kick some of his dogs and hit them with a ski pole when they refused to leave a checkpoint during a March 15, 2007 stage in Golovin, Alaska, less than 100 miles (160 km) from the finish in Nome, Alaska. Brooks denies the more serious allegations,[46] but acknowledged "spanking" the dogs in his team with a trail marking lathe. One of Brooks‘ dogs died the day after the incident, but a necropsy could not determine why the dog died and race officials said there was no evidence that Brooks was to blame.[47] On March 17, 2007, the judges voted unanimously to disqualify Brooks from the 2007 Iditarod.

Shane Goosen who has taken part in the Iditarod three times, told the Iditarod board that during the Tustumena 200 Sled Dog Race in January 2007 five people said they saw Brooks kick, hit and drag his dogs and that "There is no doubt in my mind that he beat his dogs" and "It took three days to disqualify this guy, there went the credibility of the Iditarod right there — it's gone", said Goosen. Bud Smyth, a former race marshal and Iditarod musher, criticized race officials, saying the Iditarod officials were slow to interview and tape record witnesses. Musher Perry Solmonson stated "It is just a sad situation, I hope as a board you will have some integrity and do what is necessary for the dogs."

Chas St. George, the Director of Public Relations, stated "If you are, by Alaska state statute, convicted of animal abuse or cruelty, then you are not allowed to enter this race."

Iditarod Trail Committee President, Richard Burmeister announced on April 26, 2007, that the ongoing independent investigation being conducted by the Anchorage, Alaska law firm of Davis Wright Tremaine is not yet complete. Race officials are hoping the report will be ready for the board of directors meeting on April 26, 2007. Stan Hooley said it is unlikely the board will make an immediate decision on consequences ranging from doing nothing to a lifetime ban.

On May 18, 2007, the Iditarod Trail Committee Board of Directors announced that they had suspended Ramy Brooks for abusing his sled dogs. The suspension is for the 2008 and 2009 races, and following that Brooks would be on probation for 3 years.

Sled Dog: German Shepherd

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:59:59 +0100

The German Shepherd Dogis a breed of large-sized dog that originated in Germany. German Shepherds are a relatively new breed of dog, whose origins date to 1899. As part of the Herding group, the German Shepherd is a working dog developed originally for herding sheep. Because of their strength, intelligence and abilities in obedience training they are often employed in police and military roles, in forces around the world.[3] Due to their loyal and protective nature, the German Shepherd is one of the most registered of breeds.

History

Origins

In Europe during the 1800s, attempts were being made to standardize breeds.[5] The dogs were bred to preserve traits that assisted in their job of herding sheep and protecting flocks from predators. In Germany this was practiced within local communities, where shepherds selected and bred dogs that they believed had traits necessary for herding sheep, such as intelligence, strength, and keen senses of smell. The results were dogs that were able to perform admirably in their task, but that differed significantly, both in appearance and ability, from one locality to another.

To combat these differences, the Phylax Society was formed in 1891 with the intention of creating standardised dog breeds in Germany. The society disbanded after only three years due to an ongoing, internal conflict regarding the traits that the society should promote; some members believed dogs should be bred solely for working purposes, while others believed dogs should be bred also for appearance.[6] While unsuccessful in their goal, the Phylax Society had inspired people to pursue standardising dog breeds independently.

Max von Stephanitz, an ex-cavalry captain and former student of the Berlin Veterinary College, was one such ex-member. He believed strongly that dogs should be bred for working.
A German night-watchman from 1950 with his dog.

In 1899, Von Stephanitz was attending a dog show when he was shown a dog named Hektor Linksrhein. Hektor was the product of many generations of selective breeding and completely fulfilled what Von Stephanitz believed a working dog should be. He was pleased with the strength of the dog and was so taken by the animal's intelligence and loyalty, that he purchased it immediately.[5] After purchasing the dog he changed its name to Horand von Grafrath and Von Stephanitz founded the Verein für Deutsche Schäferhunde (Society for the German Shepherd Dog).[5] Horand was declared to be the first German Shepherd Dog and was the first dog added to the society's breed register.

Horand became the centre-point of the society's breeding programs and was bred with dogs belonging to other society members that displayed desirable traits. Although fathering many pups, Horand's most successful was Hektor von Schwaben.[7] Hektor was inbred with another of Horand's offspring and produced Beowulf, who later fathered a total of eighty-four pups, mostly through being inbred with Hektor's other offspring.[8] Beowulf's progeny also were inbred and it is from these pups that all German Shepherds draw a genetic link. It is believed the society accomplished its goal mostly due to Von Stephanitz's strong, uncompromising leadership and he is therefore credited with being the creator of the German Shepherd Dog.

Popularity

When the UK Kennel Club first accepted registrations for the breed in 1919, fifty-four dogs were registered, and by 1926 this number had grown to over 8,000.[5] The breed first gained international recognition at the decline of World War I after returning soldiers spoke highly of the breed, and animal actors Rin Tin Tin and Strongheart popularised the breed further.[10] The first German Shepherd Dog registered in the United States was Queen of Switzerland; however, her offspring suffered from defects as the result of poor breeding, which caused the breed to suffer a decline in popularity during the late 1920s.[10] Popularity increased again after the German Shepherd Sieger Pfeffer von Bern became the 1937 and 1938 Grand Victor in American Kennel club dog shows, only to suffer another decline at the conclusion of World War II, due to anti-German sentiment of the time.[10] As time progressed, their popularity increased gradually until 1993, when they became the third most popular breed in the United States, a position the breed still holds.[10][11] Additionally, the breed is typically among the most popular in other registries.

Name

The breed was named Deutscher Schäferhund by Von Stephanitz, literally translating to "German Shepherd Dog". The breed was so named due its original purpose of assisting shepherds in herding and protecting sheep. At the time, all other herding dogs in Germany were referred to by this name; they thus became known as Altdeutsche Schäferhunde or Old German Shepherd Dogs. Shepherds were first exported to Britain in 1908, and the UK Kennel Club began to recognise the breed in 1919.

The direct translation of the name was adopted for use in the official breed registry; however, at the conclusion of World War I, it was believed that the inclusion of the word "German" would harm the breed's popularity,[12] due to the anti-German sentiment of the era.[13] The breed was officially renamed by the UK Kennel Club to "Alsatian Wolf Dog"[a][12] which was also adopted by many other international kennel clubs. Eventually, the appendage "wolf dog" was dropped.[12] The name Alsatian remained for five decades,[12] until 1977, when successful campaigns by dog enthusiasts pressured the British kennel clubs to allow the breed to be registered again as German Shepherd Dogs.

Modern breed

The modern German Shepherd is criticised for straying away from von Stephanitz's original ideology for the breed:[14] that German Shepherds should be bred primarily as working dogs, and that breeding should be strictly controlled to eliminate defects quickly.[b] Critics believe that careless breeding has promoted disease and other defects.[14] Under the breeding programs overseen by von Stephanitz, defects were quickly bred out; however, in modern times without regulation on breeding, genetic problems such as colour-paling, hip dysplasia, monorchidism, weakness of temperament, and missing teeth are common, as well as bent or folded ears which never fully turn up when reaching adulthood.

Description

German Shepherds are a large-breed dog which generally are between 55 and 65 centimetres (22 and 26 in) at the withers and weigh between 22 and 40 kilograms (49 and 88 lb).[16] The ideal height is 63 centimetres (25 in), according to Kennel Club standards.[17] They have a domed forehead, a long square-cut muzzle and a black nose. The jaws are strong, with a scissor-like bite. The eyes are medium-sized and brown with a lively, intelligent, and self-assured look. The ears are large and stand erect, open at the front and parallel, but they often are pulled back during movement. They have a long neck, which is raised when excited and lowered when moving at a fast pace. The tail is bushy and reaches to the hock.

German Shepherds can be a variety of colours, the most common of which are the tan/black and red/black varieties. Both varieties have black masks and black body markings which can range from a classic "saddle" to an over-all "blanket." Rarer colour variations include the sable, all-black, all-white, liver, and blue varieties. The all-black and sable varieties are acceptable according to most standards; however, the blue and liver are considered to be serious faults and the all-white is grounds for instant disqualification in some standards.[18] This is because the white coat is more visible, making the dog a poor guard dog, and harder to see in conditions such as snow or when herding sheep.

German Shepherds sport a double coat. The outer coat, which is shed all year round, is close and dense with a thick undercoat. The coat is accepted in two variants; medium and long. The long-hair gene is recessive, making the long-hair variety rarer. Treatment of the long-hair variation differs across standards; they are accepted under the German and UK Kennel Clubs but are considered a fault in the American Kennel Club.

Intelligence

German Shepherds were bred specifically for their intelligence,[21] a trait for which they are now renowned.[3] They are considered to be the third most intelligent breed of dog, behind Border Collies and Poodles.[22][23] In the book The Intelligence of Dogs, author Stanley Coren ranked the breed third for intelligence. He found that they had the ability to learn simple tasks after only five repetitions and obeyed the first command given 95% of the time.[3] Coupled with their strength, this trait makes the breed desirable as police, guard, and search and rescue dogs, as they are able to quickly learn various tasks and interpret instructions better than other large breeds.

Aggression

German Shepherds have a reputation for aggression and have been banned in some jurisdictions as a result.[25] In the United States, German Shepherds are responsible for more random bitings than any other breed, and have a known tendency to attack smaller breeds of dogs.[26] Reports have found that statistically German Shepherds are the breed third most likely to attack a person.[27] Another report found that German Shepherds accounted for almost half of the dog bites that required medical attention.[28] These claims have been refuted on the basis that German Shepherds represent a higher proportion of the population than other breeds. However, reports indicate that Shepherds are still over-represented when the statistics take into account the difference in population.

Temperament

German Shepherds are highly active dogs, and described in breed standards as self-assured.[18] The breed is marked by a willingness to learn and an eagerness to have a purpose. Shepherds have a loyal nature and bond well with people they know. However, they can become over-protective of their family and territory, especially if not socialized correctly. An aloof personality makes them approachable, but not inclined to become immediate friends with strangers.[30] German Shepherds are highly intelligent and obedient and some people think they require a "firm hand", but more recent research into training methods has shown they respond as well, if not better, to reward based training methods.

Health

Many common ailments of the German Shepherds are a result of the inbreeding required early in the breed's life.[32] One such common issue is hip and elbow dysplasia which may lead to the dog experiencing pain in later life, and may cause arthritis.[33] Due to the large and open nature of their ears, Shepherds are prone to ear infections.[34] German Shepherds, like all large bodied dogs, are prone to bloat.

The average lifespan of a German Shepherd is 7 - 10 years,[1] which is normal for a dog of their size.[35] According to a study done by R.M. Clemmons, DVM PhD who is a Professor of Neurology and Neurosurgery at the University of Florida, Degenerative Myelopathy, or DM is a neurological disease that occurs with enough regularity specifically in the breed to suggest the disease is one that is genetically predisposed in German Shepherd Dogs. [36] Additionally, German Shepherd Dogs have a higher than normal incidence of Von Willebrand Disease, a common inherited bleeding disorder.

Use as working dogs

German Shepherds are a very popular selection for use as working dogs. They are especially well known for their police work, being used for tracking criminals, patrolling troubled areas, and detection and holding of suspects. Additionally thousands of German Shepherds have been used by the military. Usually trained for scout duty, they are used to warn soldiers to the presence of enemies or of booby traps or other hazards.[38] German Shepherds have been trained by military groups to parachute from aircraft.

The German Shepherd Dog is one of the most widely-used breeds in a wide variety of scent-work roles. These include search and rescue, cadaver searching, narcotics detection, explosives detection, accelerant detection, and mine detection dog, amongst others. They are suited for these lines of work because of their keen sense of smell and their ability to work regardless of distractions.

At one time the German Shepherd Dog was the breed chosen almost exclusively to be used as a guide dog for the visually impaired. In recent years, Labrador and Golden Retrievers have been more widely used for this work, although there are still German Shepherds being trained. A versatile breed, they excel in this field due to their strong sense of duty, their mental abilities, their fearlessness, and their attachment to their owner.

34th Iditarod 2006

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:58:28 +0100

The ceremonial start of the 34th annual (XXXIV) Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race across the U.S. state of Alaska began amidst the crowds of Anchorage on March 4, 2006, and the start of the competitive race, or "restart", began the next day in Willow. The race race followed a modified version of the northern route for 1,151 mi (1,852 km) across the Alaska Range, through the sparsely inhabited Interior, along the Yukon River, and then up the coast of the Bering Sea to the city of Nome. Unlike in previous years, where the teams had to deal with unseasonably warm temperatures and soft, mushy snow, the weather was cold, with temperatures reported as low as −40 °F (−40 °C).

Eighty three competitors started the race, and as of March 18, eleven have "scratched", and one has been withdrawn from the race. The field of racers was extremely competitive, with pundits like Cabela's John Little listing more than half a dozen possible winners. The ultimate winner was Jeff King, who crossed under the "burled arch" on March 15, becoming one of the few four-time champions[1]. Fellow four-time winner Doug Swingley of Montana came in 2nd place, followed by Paul Gebhardt. Each of the 83 teams was composed of 16 dogs, four of whom died during the event.

Competitors

There are 83 mushers entered to race. The 51 Alaskans include four-time champion and speed-record holder Martin Buser, three-time winner Jeff King, 2004 winner Mitch Seavey, and the only five-time champion Rick Swenson, including a few Alaska Natives like Ramy Brooks, John Baker, and Ed Iten. There are 23 mushers as well from the lower 48 states, including four-time champion Doug Swingley.

Internationally, Canada is represented by three-time Yukon Quest winner Hans Gatt, Karen Ramstead, the owner of the only all-Siberian Husky team in the race, Sebastian Schnuelle, and rookie Warren Palfrey. Norway has three mushers in the race this year, the 2005 rookie of the year, Bjørnar Andersen, and newcomers Tore Albrigtsen and Tove Sørensen (2005 champion Robert Sørlie is not racing this year). Fabrizio Lovati of Italy and Ben Valks of the Netherlands bring the European total to 5 mushers.

Celebrity mushers include Gary Paulsen, who ran his rookie race in 1983, scratched in 1985, withdrew prior to the race in 2005, and became the first musher to scratch in 2006, on March 6 at 1:08 a.m. at Skwentna. Legally blind musher Rachael Scdoris of Bend, Oregon, will also be attempting the Iditarod for the second time, after scratching in Eagle Island last year. Her visual interpreter this year is Tim Osmar.

According to Iditarod reporter Little, the field is just as competitive as it was during the 2005 Iditarod, making it very hard to pick a winner. Former champions Buser, King, Swingley, and Seavey are all strong candidates to win. Of that elite crowd, King won the Kobuk 440 last year and the Kusko this year; while five-time winner Swenson, who scratched for the first time last year and has raced a long distance race since is probably out of the running. The last of the likely winners is Bjørnar Andersen. As this year's representative of Team Norway, he inherited half of Robert Sørlie's winning 2005 team of dogs, and even without them Andersen's 4th place finish in 2004 was the best finish by a rookie since the race first started in the 1970s.

Other racers who are expected to finish well are Lance Mackey, who just won the 1,000 mi (1,600 km) Yukon Quest, three-time runner up DeeDee Jonrowe, 2005's 2nd place finisher Ed Iten, two-time runner up Ramy Brooks, perennial top-10er John Baker. A third tier of capable racers include winner of the 2005 Klondike 300 Cim Smyth (who also recorded the fastest time from Safety to Nome in 2005, despite only having 5 dogs left), Jessie Royner, winner of the 2005 Sheep Mountain 150 Ken Andersen, Aaron Burmeister, 2nd place finisher in the 2005 Klondike 300 Matt Hayashida, Melanie Gould, Paul Gebhardt, and former Yukon Quest winner Aliy Zirkle. A win by either Aliy Zirkle or Lance Mackey would place them in the elite company of mushers to have won both the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod — in Lance's case, in the same year, an historical first. Hans Gatt is normally a contender, but this year he is running a team of young, inexperienced dogs.

Likely rookies of the year are Warren Palfrey of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories or Tore Albrigtsen and Tove Sorensen from Norway.

Awards

Doug Swingley won the PenAir Spirit of Alaska Award on March 8 at 00:12 a.m. for being the first to reach McGrath, on the bank of the Kuskokwim River. He was awarded a "spirit mask" by artist Orville Lind and USD $500 in credit to cover travel or freight shipments at the checkpoint by PenAir's Chief Operating Officer, Danny Seybert.[5]

Doug Swingley also won the CGI Dorothy Page Halfway Award on March 9 at 00:09 a.m. for being the first to reach Cripple, which is officially designated as the halfway point on even years when the northern route is run. He was awarded USD $3,000 in gold nuggets at the checkpoint by CGI Logisitics' Rick Westbrook.

Paul Gebardt won the Millennium Alaskan Hotel's First to the Yukon Award on March 10 at 12:05 a.m. for being the first to reach Ruby, on the bank of the Yukon River. He was awarded USD $3,500 in one-dollar bills at the checkpoint and had a gourmet seven-course meal prepared on a camp stove by Millennium Alaskan Hotel's Executive Chef Stephen England and Food and Beverage Director Brooke McGrath. The "Yukon Fox" Emmitt Peters, 1975 winner of the Iditarod and Ruby native, participated.

Jeff King won the Wells Fargo Gold Coast Award on March 12 at 12:26 p.m. for being the first to reach Unalakleet, an Inupiaq Eskimo community on the Norton Sound of the Bering Sea. He was awarded the Gold Coast trophy and USD $2,500 in gold at the checkpoint by Wells Fargo' Community Banking President for Nome and Kotzebue, Jennifer Imus.

Jeff King won the XXXIV Iditarod on March 15, at 1:11:36 a.m. for being the first to reach the Burled Arch in Nome. He was awarded USD $69,000 by Wells Fargo, and a 2006 pickup from Anchorage Chrysler Dodge. Only King, Martin Buser, Susan Butcher, and Doug Swingley have won the race four times; and only Rick Swenson has won it five times. At 50 years of age, King also became the oldest musher to win the race.

Mike Jayne won the Rookie of the Year Race on March 16 at 3:07:15 a.m. for being the first rookie to reach the finish. He arrived in 25th place, beating out the married Norwegians Tore Albrigtsen and Tove Sorensen, who finished in 28th and 29th place, both at 4:30:30 a.m.. Jayne beat five-time winner Rick Swenson, who finished his 30th Iditarod at 3:27:30 a.m. in 26th position, his worst place ever. Swenson is a member of the Iditarod Trail Committee board of directors, and has been making intimations of retirement.

The awards will be presented again to the winners during the Awards Banquet at the Nome Recreation Center on March 19.

Scratches

Eleven mushers "scratched":

   1. Gary Paulsen was in 62nd place when he scratched on March 6 at 5:30 a.m. in Skwentna for "personal reasons"
   2. Lori Townsend was in 44th place when she scratched on March 6 at 9:40 p.m. in Rainy Pass due to a possible rib injury.
   3. Sandy McKee was in 78th place when she scratched on March 7 at 8:00 p.m. in Rainy Pass.[13]
   4. Rookie Sue Morgan from Richmond, Utah was in 78th place when she scratched on March 8 at 8:00 a.m. in Rainy Pass due to a possible cracked rib.
   5. Terry Adkins of Sand Coulee, Montana was in 67th place when he scratched on March 10 at 10:15 a.m. in Takotna.
   6. Rich Larson of Sand Coulee, Montana was in 69th place when he scratched on March 10 at 11:15 a.m. in McGrath due to the "lack of leaders in his team"
   7. Richard Hum of Talkeetna, Alaska scratched on March 10 at 11:20 a.m. in McGrath "because his team was young".
   8. Jim Warren of Linwood, Michigan scratched on March 10 at 12:07 p.m. in Takotna "based on well being of his remaining young team".
   9. Matt Hayashida of Willow, Alaska scratched on March 11 at 7:45 a.m. in Cripple "based on the well being of his dog team".
10. Veteran Iditarod competitor John Barron of Helmsville, Montana scratched on March 11 at 3:00 p.m. in Galena "because his team was sick".
11. Dave Tresino scratched on March 11 at 4:30 p.m. in Cripple due to a "lack of leaders".

One musher was withdrawn from the race. Withdrawing a musher is at the sole discretion of Race Marshall Mark Nordman:

   1. Ben Valks of the Netherlands was withdrawn from the race after arriving in Shaktoolik on March 18 at 4:00 p.m. as the red lantern in last place. According to Norman's report, "Valks had taken good care of his team and himself throughout the race, but that in his judgment Valks’ team was no longer considered competitive".

Canine fatalities

Each of the 83 teams was composed of 16 dogs at the start of the competitive race in Willow. Mushers are allowed to drop dogs at any checkpoint, usually because of concern over their performance, but also or for their health. Veterinarians examine the dogs at each checkpoint, and also have the discretion to withdraw dogs. Dropped dogs are flown to Anchorage or Nome, where they are provided with medical care. Teams are usually reduced to between 9 and 12 dogs by the time they arrived in Nome.

An average of 3 dogs die each year. A necropsy by a board certified veterinary pathologist is conducted after every fatality to determine the cause of death.

   1. Yellowknife, a 4 year old male from Noah Burmeister's team, died on March 9 at 6:00 a.m.. Yellowknife was initially dropped at Rohn on March 7, and provided medical care in Anchorage.[24] The preliminary necroposy indicated pneumonia as the cause of death, and further tests are being performed.
   2. Bear, a 3 year old male from David Sawatzsky's team, died on March 11 between Cripple and Ruby.[26] The gross necroposy found no abnormalities, but additional tests are pending.
   3. Cupid, a 4 year old female from Jim Lanier's team, died on March 12 between Galena and Nulato.[28] The gross necropsy found regurgitation and aspiration were the likely cause of death, and secondarily gastric ulcers. Additional tests are pending.
   4. Jack, a 5 year old male from Wisconsin musher Ron Cortte's team, died on March 18 at White Mountain. Jack was examined by veterinarians on arrival and appeared normal, but died of unknown causes 30 min later. Gross necropsy pending.

Route

The race ran over the Alaska Range, where an avalanche claimed the life of Richard Strick Jr. in mid-February, into the former Gold Rush country of the Alaska Interior, past Athabaskan villages. Since 2006 is an even numbered year, the race followed the northern route from Ophir, past the halfway point at Cripple, before rejoining the main route at Kaltag, on the Yukon River. From Kaltag the race swings west to the Norton Sound, on coast of the Bering Sea.

March 4: Ceremonial start in Anchorage

Ceremonial start at Anchorage: The mushers departed Anchorage on March 4, 2006. A large crowd watched as 83 teams composed of a musher and twelve dogs pulling a dogsled, left the starting chute at the corner of Fourth and D Streets, and followed the 11 mi (18 km) route through the urban center. The mushers were accompanied on the sled by "Idita-riders", the high bidders in a pre-race auction.

Eagle River: After the mushers arrive at Eagle River, the dogs are transported by vehicle to the "restart" location. Normally this is at Wasilla, the headquarters of the Iditarod Trail Committee, and the race continues from there to the next checkpoint at Knik, before reaching Yentna Station. In 2006, the restart was pushed back to Willow, and continued on directly to Yentna, skipping Wasilla and Knik entirely.

March 5: Restart at Willow

Restart at Willow: The mushers departed the Community of Willow two minutes apart, in Bib order. The first musher (Loni Townsend, Bib 2) left on March 5 at 2:00 p.m. AKST, and the last (Paul Gebhardt, Bib 83) left 2 hr 44 min later at 4:44 p.m..[10] The teams were increased to 16 dogs each. No additional dogs could be added, but they could be left behind at any of the checkpoints along the route.

Yentna: Four-time winner Doug Swingley departed Yentna in first place, on March 5 at 5:35 p.m.. The remainder of the top 5 were Bryan Bearss (at 5:42 p.m.), Jim Lanier (5:47 p.m.), Lori Townsend (5:48 p.m.), and Jessie Royer (5:51 p.m.). The top 10 departed within 35 min (by 6:10 p.m.), the top 20 within 1 hr 2 min (by 6:37 p.m.), and the last within 8 hr 49 min (by March 6 at 2:24 a.m.). The red lantern in 83rd place was Ben Valks.

Skwentna: Bryan Bearss departed Skwentna in first place, on March 5 at 9:19 p.m.. The remainder of the top 5 were Ramy Brooks (at 9:46 p.m.), Melanie Gould (9:50 p.m.), Ramey Smyth (10:19 p.m.), and three-time winner Jeff King (10:21 p.m.). The top 10 departed within 2 hr 24 min (by 11:43 p.m.), the top 20 within 4 hr 54 min (by March 6, at 2:13 p.m.), and the last within 17 hr 30 min (by March 6 at 2:49 p.m.). The red lantern in 82nd place was Be Valks, after Gary Paulsen scratched.

March 6: Alaska Range

Finger Lake: John Baker departed Finger Lake in first place, on March 6 at 9:15 a.m.. The remainder of the top 5 were fellow Alaska Native Ramy Brooks (at 9:31 a.m.), Doug Swingley (9:32 a.m.), Jeff King (9:53 a.m.), and Melanie Gould (10:00 a.m.). The top 10 departed within 1 hr 9 min (by 10:24 a.m.), the top 20 within 2 hr 55 min (by 12:10 p.m.), and the last within 1 day 0 hr 16 min (by March 7 at 9:31 a.m.). The red lantern in 82d place was Ben Valks.

Rainy Pass: Ramey Smyth departed Rainy Pass in first place, on March 6 at 2:46 p.m.. The remainder of the top 5 were Jessica Hendricks (at 6:18 p.m., 3 hr 32 min later), Lance Mackey (6:19 p.m.), the Norwegian Bjørnar Andersen (6:38 p.m.), and Paul Gebhardt (6:40 p.m.). The top 10 departed within 4 hr 42 min (by 7:28 p.m.), the top 20 within 5 hr 44 min (by 8:30 p.m.), and the last within 1 day 20 hr 32 min (by March 8 at 11:18 a.m.). The red lantern in 79th place was Ben Valks, after Lori Townsend, Sandy McKee, and Sue Morgan scratched.

Rohn: Doug Swingley departed Rohn in first place, on March 6 at 10:45 p.m.. The remainder of the top 5 were Jeff King (at 11:23 p.m.), Ramy Brooks (11:59 p.m.), Aliy Zirkle (March 7 at 00:11 a.m.), and 2004 winner Mitch Seavey (00:15 a.m.). The top 10 departed within 2 hr 46 min (by March 7 at 1:31 a.m.), the top 20 within 6 hr 5 min (by 4:50 a.m.), and the last within 2 days 3 hr 43 min (by March 9 at 2:28 a.m.). The red lantern in 79th place was Ben Valks.

March 7: Alaska Interior

Nikolai: Doug Swingley departed Nikolai in first place, on March 7 at 7:09 p.m.. The remainder of the top 5 were Jeff King (at 7:15 p.m.), Aliy Zirkle (7:45 p.m.), Ed Iten (8:46 p.m.), and Mitch Seavey (8:55 p.m.). The top 10 departed within 2 hr 16 min (by 9:25 p.m.), the top 20 within 4 hr 53 min (by March 8 at 00:02 a.m.), and the last within 2 days 15 hr 54 min (by March 10 at 11:03 a.m.). The red lantern in 79th place was Ben Valks.

March 8

McGrath: Doug Swingley departed McGrath in first place, on March 8 at 00:18 a.m.. The remainder of the top 5 were Jeff King (at 00:47 a.m.), Aliy Zirkle (2:21 a.m.), three-time runner up DeeDee Jonrowe (3:33 a.m.), and John Baker (5:13 a.m.). The top 10 departed within 6 hr 2 min (by 6:20 a.m.), the top 20 within 9 hr 14 min (by 9:32 a.m.), and the last within 3 days 8 hr 56 min (by March 11 at 9:14 a.m.). The red lantern in 77th place was Trent Herbst, after Richard Hum and Rick Larson scratched.

Takotna: Doug Swingley departed Takotna in first place, on March 8 at 8:19 a.m.. The remainder of the top 5 were Jason Barron, Mitch Seavey, John Barron (all three departed at 11:00 a.m.), and Ed Iten (11:08 a.m.). The top 10 departed within 5 hr 28 min (by 1:47 p.m.), the top 20 within 20 hr 29 min (by March 9 at 4:48 a.m.), and the last within 3 days 14 hr 48 min (by March 11 at 11:07 p.m.). The red lantern in 75th place was Ben Valks, after Terry Adkins and Jim Warren scratched.

Ophir: Doug Swingley departed Ophir in first place, on March 8 at 11:01 a.m.. The remainder of the top 5 were DeeDee Jonrowe (at 4:55 p.m.), Cim Smyth (4:58 p.m.), John Baker (5:26 p.m.), and Paul Gebhardt (6:35 p.m.). The top 10 departed within 19 hr 46 min (by March 9 at 6:46 a.m.), the top 20 within 28 hr 00 min (by March 9 at 3:01 p.m.), and the last within 3 days 15 hr 44 min (by March 12 at 2:45 a.m.). The red lantern in 75th place was Ben Valks.

March 9: Halfway

Cripple: Paul Gebhardt departed Cripple in first place, on March 9 at 1:48 p.m.. The remainder of the top 5 were Jeff King (at 10:45 p.m., 6 hr 57 min later), Aliy Zirkle (11:43 p.m.), Doug Swingley (March 10 at 3:05 a.m.), and Aaron Butmeister (March 10 at 4:34 a.m.). The top 10 departed within 17 hr 52 min (March 10 at 7:40 a.m.), the top 20 within 19 hr 13 min (by March 10 at 10:01 a.m.), and the last within 3 days 22 hr 14 min (by March 13 at 12:02 p.m.). The red lantern in 73rd place was Ben Valks, after Matt Hayashide and Dave Tresino scratched.

March 10: Yukon River

Ruby: Paul Gebardt departed Ruby in first place, on March 10 at 8:34 a.m.. The remainder of the top 5 were Jeff King (at 4:01 p.m.), Doug Swingley (7:45 p.m.), DeeDee Jonrowe (9:09 p.m.), and Aliy Zirkle (11:00 p.m.). The top 10 departed within 16 hr 22 min (by March 11 at 00:56 a.m.), the top 20 within 20 hr 38 min (by March 11 at 5:12 a.m.), and the last within 4 days 6 hr 27 min (by March 14 at 3:01 p.m.). The red lantern in 73rd place was Ben Valks.

March 11

Galena: Jeff King departed Galena in first place, on March 11 at 3:28 a.m.. The remainder of the top 5 were Doug Swingley (at 7:52 a.m.), Mitch Seavey (8:00 a.m.), Ed Iten (8:17 a.m.), and Jason Barron (also 8:17 a.m.). The top 10 departed within 8 hr 10 min (by 11:38 a.m.), the top 20 within 14 hr 5 min (by 5:33 p.m.), and the last within 4 days 6 hr 28 min (by March 15 at 9:56 a.m.). The red lantern in 72nd place was Ben Valks, after John Barron scratched.[10]

Nulato: Jeff King departed Nulato in first place again, on March 11 at 1:06 p.m.. The remainder of the top 5 were Doug Swingley (at 1:27 p.m.), DeeDee Jonrowe (3:27 p.m.), Lance Mackey (7:58 p.m.), and Paul Gebhardt (8:42 p.m.). The top 10 departed within 8 hr 26 min (by 9:32 p.m.), the top 20 within 16 hr 52 min (by March 12, at 5:58 a.m.), and the last within 4 days 10 hr 27 min (by March 15 at 11:33 p.m.). The red lantern in 72nd place was Ben Valks.

March 12: Bering Sea

Kaltag: Jeff King departed Kaltag in first place for the third straight checkpoint, on March 12 at 00:21 a.m.. The remainder of the top 5 were Doug Swingley (at 00:57 a.m.), DeeDee Jonrowe (3:30 a.m.), Aliy Zirkle (3:37 a.m.), and John Baker (7:33 a.m.). The top 10 departed within 9 hr 9 min (by 9:30 a.m.), the top 20 within 15 hr 49 min (by 4:10 p.m.), and the last within 4 days 13 hr 29 min (by March 16 at 1:50 p.m.). The red lantern in 72nd place was Ben Valks.[10]

Unalakleet: Jeff King departed Unalakleet in first place again, on March 12 at 6:50 p.m.. The remainder of the top 5 were Doug Swingley (at 8:40 p.m.), DeeDee Jonrowe (March 13 at 00:48 a.m.), Bjørnar Andersen (2:52 a.m.), and John Baker (2:54 a.m.). The top 10 departed within 12 hr 7 min (by 6:57 a.m.), the top 20 within 19 hr 43 min (by 2:33 p.m.), and the last within 5 days 1 hr 49 min (by March 17 at 8:39 p.m.). The red lantern in 72nd place was Ben Valks.

March 13

Shaktoolik: Jeff King departed Shaktoolik in first place, on March 13 at 5:22 a.m.. The remainder of the top 5 were Doug Swingley (at 8:03 a.m.), Paul Gebhardt (8:44 a.m.), DeeDee Jonrowe(10:37 a.m.), and Bjørnar Andersen (12:27 p.m.). The top 10 departed within 11 hr 23 min (by 4:45 p.m.), the top 20 within 16 hr 53 min (by 10:15), and the last within 5 days 6 hr 55 min (by March 18 at 12:17 p.m.). The red lantern in 71st place was Katrina Pawlaczyk, after Ben Valks scratched.[10]

Koyuk: Jeff King departed Koyuk in first place, on March 13 at 3:51 p.m.. The remainder of the top 5 were Doug Swingley (at 7:16 p.m.), Paul Gebhardt (9:33 p.m.), DeeDee Jonrowe (9:35 p.m.), and Aliy Zirkle (9:42 p.m.). The top 10 departed within 12 hr 12 min (by March 14 at 4:03 a.m.), and the top 20 within 19 hr 1 min (by 10:52 a.m.).

Elim: Jeff King departed Elim in first place, on March 13 at 10:23 p.m.. The remainder of the top 5 were Doug Swingley (March 14 at 2:19 a.m.), DeeDee Jonrowe (5:19 a.m.), Paul Gebhardt (5:27 a.m.), and John Baker (6:01 a.m.). The top 10 departed within 14 hr 7 min (by 12:30 p.m.), and the top 20 within 19 hr 8 min (by 5:31 p.m.).

March 14

White Mountain: Jeff King departed White Mountain in first place, on March 14 at 2:34 p.m.. The remainder of the top 5 were Doug Swingley (at 5:41 p.m.), Paul Gebhardt (8:00 p.m.), DeeDee Jonrowe (8:29 p.m.), and John Baker (9:14 p.m.). The top 10 departed within 12 hr 33 min (by March 15 at 3:07 a.m.), and the top 20 within 18 hr 26 min (by 9:00 a.m.).

Safety: Jeff King departed Safety in first place, on March 14 at 9:53 p.m.. The remainder of the top 5 were Doug Swingley (March 15 at 00:57 a.m.), Paul Gebardt (2:31 a.m.), DeeDee Jonrowe(3:23 a.m.), and John Baker (4:31 a.m.). The top 10 departed within 11 hr 38 min (by 9:31 a.m.), and the top 20 within 17 hr 57 min (by 2:50 p.m.).

March 15: Burled arch

Nome: Jeff King passed under the "burled arch" on Front Street in Nome in first place, on March 15 at 1:11 a.m.. The remainder of the top 5 were Doug Swingley (at 4:18 a.m.), Paul Gebhardt (5:23 a.m.), DeeDee Jonrowe (6:25 a.m.), and John Baker (7:37 a.m.). The top 10 arrived within 10 hr 57 min (12:08 p.m.), and the top 20 within 18 hr 14 min (by 6:31 p.m.).

Sled Dog: Grey Wolf

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:54:34 +0100

The grey wolf is the largest wild member of the Canidae family. It is an ice age survivor originating during the Late Pleistocene around 300,000 years ago.[3] DNA sequencing and genetic drift studies reaffirm that the gray wolf shares a common ancestry with the domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris). Although certain aspects of this conclusion have been questioned, including recently,[4] the main body of evidence confirms it. A number of other gray wolf subspecies have been identified, though the actual number of subspecies is still open to discussion. Gray wolves are typically apex predators in the ecosystems they occupy. Though not as adaptable as more generalist canid species, wolves have thrived in temperate forests, deserts, mountains, tundra, taiga, grasslands, and even urban areas.

Though once abundant over much of Eurasia and North America, the gray wolf inhabits a very small portion of its former range because of widespread destruction of its territory, human encroachment, and the resulting human-wolf encounters that sparked broad extirpation. Even so, the gray wolf is regarded as being of least concern for extinction according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, when the entire gray wolf population is considered as a whole. Today, wolves are protected in some areas, hunted for sport in others, or may be subject to extermination as perceived threats to livestock and pets.

In areas where human cultures and wolves are sympatric, wolves frequently feature in the folklore and mythology of those cultures, both positively and negatively.

Physiology

Physical characteristics

Gray wolf weight and size can vary greatly worldwide, tending to increase proportionally with latitude as predicted by Bergmann's Rule. In general, height varies from 0.6 to .95 meters and (26–38 inches) at the shoulder. Wolf weight varies geographically; on average, European wolves may weigh 38.5 kg (85 lbs), North American wolves 36 kg (80 lbs), and Indian and Arabian wolves 25 kg (55 lbs).[6] Though rarely encountered, extreme specimens of more than 77 kg (170 lb.) have been recorded in Alaska, Canada,[7] and the former Soviet Union.[8] The heaviest recorded gray wolf in the New World was killed on 70 Mile River in east-central Alaska on July 12, 1939 and weighed 79 kg (175 lb.),[6] while the heaviest recorded wolf in the Old World was killed after World War II in the Kobelyakski Area of the Poltavskij Region in the Ukrainian SSR, and weighed 86 kg (189 lb.).[9] Grey wolves are sexually dimorphic, with females in any given wolf population typically weighing 20% less than males.[10] Females also have narrower muzzles and foreheads; slightly shorter, smoother furred legs; and less massive shoulders.[6] Gray wolves can measure anywhere from 1.3 to 2 meters (4.5–6.5 feet) from nose to the tip of the tail, which itself accounts for approximately one quarter of overall body length.

Gray wolves rely on their stamina rather than speed for hunting. Their narrow chests and powerful backs and legs facilitate efficient locomotion. They are capable of covering several miles trotting at about a pace of 10 km/h (6 mph), and have been known to reach speeds approaching 65 km/h (40 mph) during a chase.[12] One female gray wolf was recorded to have made 7 metre bounds when chasing prey.

Gray wolf paws are able to tread easily on a wide variety of terrains, especially snow. There is a slight webbing between each toe, which allows them to move over snow more easily than comparatively hampered prey. Gray wolves are digitigrade, which, with the relative largeness of their feet, helps them to distribute their weight well on snowy surfaces. The front paws are larger than the hind paws, and have a fifth digit, the dewclaw, that is absent on hind paws.[13] Bristled hairs and blunt claws enhance grip on slippery surfaces, and special blood vessels keep paw pads from freezing.[14] Scent glands located between a wolf's toes leave trace chemical markers behind, helping the wolf to effectively navigate over large expanses while concurrently keeping others informed of its whereabouts.[14] Unlike dogs and western coyotes, gray wolves have a lower density of sweat glands on their paws. This trait is also present in Eastern Canadian Coyotes which have been shown to have recent wolf ancestry.[15] Wolves in Israel are unique due to the middle two toes of their paws being fused, a trait originally thought to be unique to the African Wild Dog.[16]
Genetic research has shown that black furred wolves owe their colouration to a mutation that first arose in domestic dogs
Gray wolves molt some of their coats in late spring or early summer

Wolves have bulky coats consisting of two layers. The first layer is made up of tough guard hairs that repel water and dirt. The second is a dense, water-resistant undercoat that insulates. The undercoat is shed in the form of large tufts of fur in late spring or early summer (with yearly variations). A wolf will often rub against objects such as rocks and branches to encourage the loose fur to fall out. The undercoat is usually gray regardless of the outer coat's appearance. Wolves have distinct winter and summer pelages that alternate in spring and autumn. Females tend to keep their winter coats further into the spring than males.

Fur coloration varies greatly, running from gray to gray-brown, all the way through the canine spectrum of white, red, brown, and black. These colors tend to mix in many populations to form predominantly blended individuals, though it is not uncommon for an individual or an entire population to be entirely one color (usually all black or all white). With the exception of Italy, in which black wolves can constitute 20-25% of the entire population, melanistic wolves rarely occur outside the North American continent.[17] According to genetic examinations, the black coat colour is based on a mutation that first arose among domestic dogs and later migrated into the wolf-population via interbreeding.[18] A multicolor coat characteristically lacks any clear pattern other than it tends to be lighter on the animal's underside. Fur color sometimes corresponds with a given wolf population's environment; for example, all-white wolves are much more common in areas with perennial snow cover. Aging wolves acquire a grayish tint in their coats. It is often thought that the coloration of the wolf's pelage serves as a functional form of camouflage. This may not be entirely correct, as some scientists have concluded that the blended colors have more to do with emphasizing certain gestures during interaction.

At birth, wolf pups tend to have darker fur and blue irises that will change to a yellow-gold or orange color when the pups are between 8 and 16 weeks old.

Wolves' long, powerful muzzles help distinguish them from other canids, particularly coyotes and Golden Jackals, which have more narrow, pointed muzzles. In wolves, the anterior incisure of the nasal bones does not have a medial protrusion, unlike jackals. The cingulum on the external edge of the first upper molar is only slightly expressed, while it is broad and distinctly marked in jackals.

Wolves differ from domestic dogs in a more varied nature. Anatomically, wolves have smaller orbital angles than dogs (>53 degrees for dogs compared with <45 degrees for wolves) and a comparatively larger brain capacity.[21] Larger paw size, yellow eyes, longer legs, and bigger teeth further distinguish adult wolves from other canids, especially dogs. Also, precaudal glands at the base of the tail are present in wolves but not in dogs.

Wolves and most larger dogs share identical dentition. The maxilla has six incisors, two canines, eight premolars, and four molars. The mandible has six incisors, two canines, eight premolars, and six molars.The fourth upper premolars and first lower molars constitute the carnassial teeth, which are essential tools for shearing flesh. The long canine teeth are also important, in that they hold and subdue the prey. Capable of delivering up to 10,000 kPa (1450 lbf/in²) of pressure, a wolf's teeth are its main weapons as well as its primary tools. This is roughly twice the pressure that a domestic dog of similar size can deliver. The dentition of grey wolves is better suited to bone crushing than those of other modern canids, though it is not as specialised as that found in hyenas.

Wolf saliva has been shown to reduce bacterial infection in wounds and accelerate tissue regeneration.

Reproduction and life cycle

Generally, mating occurs between January and April — the higher the latitude, the later it occurs.[26] A pack usually produces a single litter unless the breeding male mates with one or more subordinate females. During the mating season, breeding wolves become very affectionate with one another in anticipation of the female's ovulation cycle. The pack tension rises as each mature wolf feels urged to mate. During this time, the breeding pair may be forced to prevent other wolves from mating with one another.[27] Incest rarely occurs, though inbreeding depression has been reported to be a problem for wolves in Saskatchewan[28] and Isle Royale.[29] When the breeding female goes into estrus (which occurs once per year and lasts 5–14 days),[30] she and her mate will spend an extended time in seclusion. Pheromones in the female's urine and the swelling of her vulva make known to the male that the female is in heat. The female is unreceptive for the first few days of estrus, during which time she sheds the lining of her uterus; but when she begins ovulating again, the two wolves mate.

The gestation period lasts between 60 and 63 days. The pups, which weigh 0.5 kg (1 lb) at birth, are born blind, deaf, and completely dependent on their mother.[26][31] The average litter size is 5-6 pups, though there are two Soviet records of litters consisting of 17 pups.[9] The pups reside in the den and stay there for two months. The den is usually on high ground near an open water source, and has an open chamber at the end of an underground or hillside tunnel that can be up to a few meters long.[14] During this time, the pups will become more independent, and will eventually begin to explore the area immediately outside the den before gradually roaming up to a mile away from it at around 5 weeks of age. Wolf growth rate is slower than that of coyotes and dholes.[32] They begin eating regurgitated foods after 2 weeks of feeding on milk, which in wolves has less fat and more protein and arginine than dog milk.[10] By this time, their milk teeth have emerged — and are fully weaned by 10 weeks. During the first weeks of development, the mother usually stays with her litter alone, but eventually most members of the pack will contribute to the rearing of the pups in some way.[26] After two months, the restless pups will be moved to a rendezvous site, where they can stay safely while most of the adults go out to hunt. One or two adults stay behind to ensure the safety of the pups. After a few more weeks, the pups are permitted to join the adults if they are able, and will receive priority on anything killed, their low ranks notwithstanding. Letting the pups fight for eating privileges results in a secondary ranking being formed among them, and allows them to practice the dominance/submission rituals that will be essential to their future survival in pack life. During hunts, the pups remain ardent observers until they reach about 8 months of age, by which time they are large enough to participate actively.

Wolves typically reach sexual maturity after two or three years, at which point many of them will be compelled to leave their birth packs and seek out mates and territories of their own.[26][33] Wolves that reach maturity generally live 6 to 10 years in the wild, although in captivity they can live to twice that age.[34] High mortality rates give them a low overall life expectancy. Pups die when food is scarce; they can also fall prey to predators such as bears, tigers, or other wolves. The most significant causes of mortality for grown wolves are hunting and poaching, car accidents, and wounds inflicted while hunting prey. Although adult wolves may occasionally be killed by other predators, rival wolf packs are often their most dangerous non-human enemy.

Diseases

Diseases recorded to be carried by wolves include brucella, deerfly fever, leptospirosis, foot-and-mouth disease, and anthrax. Wolves are major hosts for rabies in Russia, Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, and India. Though wolves are not reservoirs for the disease, they can catch it from other species. Wolves develop an exceptionally severe aggressive state when rabid and can bite numerous people in a single attack. Before a vaccine was developed, bites were almost always fatal. Today, wolf bites can be treated, but the severity of rabid wolf attacks can sometimes result in outright death, or a bite near the head will make the disease act too fast for the treatment to take effect. Rabid attacks tend to cluster in winter and spring. With the reduction of rabies in Europe and North America, few rabid wolf attacks have been recorded, though some still occur annually in the Middle East.[36] Wolves also carry the Canine coronavirus, infections being most prelevant in winter months.

Wolves in Russia have been recorded to carry over 50 different kinds of harmful parasites, including echinococcus, cysticercosis, and coenuri.[35] Wolves are also carriers of Trichinella spiralis. Between 1993-94, 148 wolf carcasses near Fairbanks, Alaska were examined for larvae, 54 (36%) of which were found to be infected. Prevalence of Trichinella spiralis in wolves is significantly related to age.[38] Wolves may carry Neospora caninum, which is of particular concern to farmers, as the disease can be spread to livestock; infected animals being three to thirteen times more likely to abort than those not infected.

Despite their habit of carrying harmful diseases, large wolf populations are not heavily regulated by epizootic outbreaks as with other social canids. This is largely due to the habit of infected wolves vacating their packs, thus preventing mass contagion.

Behavior

Social structure

Occasionally, single wolves are found in the wild, though packs are more common.[40][41] Lone wolves are typically old specimens driven from their pack or young adults in search of new territory.[42] Wolf packs in the northern hemisphere tend not to be as compact or unified as those of African Wild Dogs and Spotted Hyenas,[43] though they are not as unstable as those of coyotes.[44] Normally, the pack consists of a male, a female, and their offspring, essentially making the pack a nuclear family.[40][41] The size of the pack may change over time and is controlled by several factors, including habitat, personalities of individual wolves within a pack, and food supply. Packs can contain between 2 and 20 wolves, though 8 is a more typical size.[45] An unusually large pack consisting of 36 wolves was reported in 1967 in Alaska.[46] While most breeding pairs are monogamous, there are exceptions.[47] Wolves will usually remain with their parents until the age of two years. Young from the previous season will support their parents in nursing pups of a later year. Wolf cubs are very submissive to their parents, and remain so after reaching sexual maturity. On occasion in captivity, subordinate wolves may rise up and challenge the dominant pair; such revolts may result in daughters killing mothers and sons killing fathers.[48] This behavior has never been documented in the wild,[49] and it is hypothesized that it only happens in captivity because dispersal is impossible.[50] There are no documented cases of subordinate wolves challenging the leadership of their parents.[40][41][47] Instead of openly challenging the leadership of the pack leaders, most young wolves between the ages of 1–4 years leave their family in order to search for, or start, a pack of their own.[47] Wolves acting unusually, such as epileptic pups or thrashing adults crippled by a trap or a gunshot, are usually killed by other members of their own pack.[6] Asiatic and Middle Eastern wolves tend to be less inclined to socialising with any other member of their species outside their own nuclear family, passing their lives more frequently either in pairs or as social individuals, much like coyotes and dingoes.[51]

In literature, wolf packs are commonly portrayed as strongly hierarchic communities, with a dominant breeding "Alpha pair", a group of subordinate "Beta" individuals, and the scapegoat "Omega wolf" on the lowest end of the hierarchy. These descriptions are heavily based on research on captive wolf packs composed of unrelated individuals and cannot be extrapolated to wild wolf packs.[52] In captivity, dispersal of mature individuals is impossible, resulting in frequent aggressive hierarchic encounters.[40][41] According to wolf biologist L. David Mech, "Calling a wolf an alpha is usually no more appropriate than referring to a human parent or a doe deer as an alpha. Any parent is dominant to its young offspring, so alpha adds no information." and that basing observations on captive living arrangements would be like “…trying to draw inferences about human family dynamics by studying humans in refugee camps”.[47] The term may be valid under certain circumstances, such as when a pack adopts an unrelated dispersed wolf, when the breeding pair die, thus leaving the alpha position open, or when siblings disperse from a pack together. In these cases, the standard nuclear family model does not apply, which may cause wild wolves to behave more like they do in captivity.
Territorial behaviors

Wolves are territorial animals. Studies have shown that the average size of a wolf pack's territory is close to 200 km2 (77 sq mi).[53] Wolf packs travel constantly in search of prey, covering roughly 9% of their territory per day (average 25 km/d). The core of their territory is on average 35 km2 (14 sq mi), in which they spend 50% of their time.[54] Prey density tends to be much higher in the territory's surrounding areas. Despite this higher abundance of prey, wolves tend to avoid hunting in the fringes of their territory unless desperate, due to the possibility of fatal encounters with neighboring packs.[55] Established wolf packs rarely accept strangers into their territories, with one study on wolf mortality in Minnesota and the Denali National Park and Preserve concluding that 14–65% of wolf deaths were due to predation by other wolves.[56] In fact, 91% of wolf fatalities occur within 3.2 km (2.0 mi) of the borders between neighboring territories.[57] The majority of killed wolves are dominant animals, due to their greater assertiveness in confronting other packs.[58] In rare cases in which a stranger is accepted into the pack, the animal itself is almost invariably a young specimen of 1–3 years of age, while the majority of killed wolves are adults.

Communication between these boundaries is achieved in part through scent marking and howling. Howling is the principal means of spacing in wolf populations. It communicates the location of a core territory as well as enforcing a territory-independent buffer zone around the roaming wolf pack. This territory-independent buffer zone is a means of avoiding encounters with neighboring packs near territory borders.[60] Lone wolves, in contrast, rarely respond to howls, instead taking an "under the radar" approach. Howling communicates a core territory over time, as a wolf packs spends much of their time there.

Dispersion

Offspring of the breeding pair tend to stay with the pack for some portion of their adulthood. These "subordinate" wolves play a number of important roles in the pack, including participating in hunts, enforcing discipline and raising pups.[61] This behavior is achieved, in part, by an active suppression of reproduction in subordinate wolves by the breeding pair. Thus, while they remain members of the pack, they are unable to reproduce, even if there are other subordinate unrelated wolves in the pack. In many wolves, the drive to reproduce leads them to leave the pack. Dispersals occur at all times during the year, and typically involve wolves that have reached sexual maturity prior to the previous breeding season.[42] Dispersed wolves search for new territory and companionship, a hazardous process that could lead to death.[49] Successful dispersions end when the wolf has found another single wolf of the opposite sex and bonds with it. Thus it takes two such dispersals from two separate packs for a new breeding pair to be formed, for dispersing wolves from the same maternal pack tend not to mate.[27] Once two dispersing wolves meet and begin traveling together, they immediately begin the process of seeking out territory, preferably in time for the next mating season.

Scent marking

Wolves, like other canines, use scent marking to lay claim to anything—from territory to fresh kills.[62] Breeding wolves scent mark the most often, with males doing so more than females. The most widely used scent marker is urine. Male and female breeding wolves urine-mark objects with a raised-leg stance (all other pack members squat) to enforce rank and territory. They also use marks to identify food caches and to claim kills on behalf of the pack. Defecation markers are used for the same purpose as urine marks, and serve as a more visual warning, as well.[62] Defecation markers are particularly useful for navigation, keeping the pack from traversing the same terrain too often and also allowing each wolf to be aware of the whereabouts of its pack members. Above all, though, scent marking is used to inform other wolves and packs that a certain territory is occupied, and that they should therefore tread cautiously.

Wolves have scent glands all over their bodies, including at the base of the tail, between toes, and in the eyes, genitalia, and skin.[62] Pheromones secreted by these glands identify each individual wolf. A dominant wolf will "rub" its body against subordinate wolves to mark such wolves as being members of a particular pack. Wolves may also "paw" dirt to release pheromones instead of urine marking.

Dietary habits

Wolves feed primarily on medium to large sized ungulates, though they are opportunistic feeders, and will generally eat any meat that is available,[64] including non-ungulate species,[65] carrion and garbage.[64] Cannibalism is not uncommon in wolves, and has been recorded to occur in times of food scarcity,[66] when a pack member dies,[67] and during territorial disputes.[58] Some wolf packs in Alaska and Western Canada have been observed to feed on salmon.[68][69] Humans are rarely, but occasionally preyed upon (see Attacks on humans).[36][70][71][72] Wolves will typically avoid a potential prey item which does not conform to what they experienced during their lives. Generally, the greater the discrepancy to what wolves are accustomed to, the greater their resistance to exploring it. This is only increased should the new prey act bold, assertive, and fearless. Nevertheless, even if there is no food shortage, wolves will explore alternative prey if they continually come into close contact with it and habituate themselves.

Unlike lion prides, wolf packs numbering above 2 individuals show little strategic cooperation in hunting large prey.[64] Wolves typically attempt to conceal themselves as they approach their prey. Often, they will wait for the prey to graze, when it is distracted.[9] If the prey animal stands its ground or confronts the pack, the wolves will approach and threaten it. The wolves will eventually leave if their prey does not run, though the length of time can range from hours to days.[64] If their prey attempts to flee, the wolves will give chase. Wolves generally do not engage in long chases, and will usually stop a pursuit after a chase of 10-180 metres, though there has been one documented case of a wolf chasing a moose for 36 km.[9] Female wolves tend to be better at chasing prey than males, while the latter are more adept at wrestling large prey to the ground once it is caught. Packs composed largely of female wolves thrive on fleet footed prey such as elk, while packs specialising in bison tend to have a greater number of males.[74] Though commonly portrayed as targeting solely sick or infirm animals,[33] there is little evidence that they actively limit themselves to such targets. Rather, the evidence shows that wolves will simply target the easiest options available, which as well as sick and infirm animals, can also include young animals and pregnant females.[75] Though wolves commonly hunt large prey in packs, there are cases in which single wolves have successfully killed large animals unaided. One wolf was recorded to have killed moose 11 times singlehandedly.

Wolves will typically attempt to disable large prey by tearing at the haunches and perineum, causing massive bleeding and loss of coordination. A single bite can cause a wound up to 10–15 cm in length. A large deer in optimum health generally succumbs to three bites at the perineum area after a chase of 150 metres. Once their prey is sufficiently weakened, the wolves will grab it by the flanks and pull it down.[9] Sometimes, with medium sized prey such as dall sheep, wolves will bite the throat, severing the windpipe or jugular.[77] When attacking canid prey, such as dogs, coyotes or other wolves, wolves will kill by biting the back, neck or head.[58][78][79] With prey of equal or lesser weight to the wolf, such as lambs or small children, wolves will grab their quarry by the neck, chest, head or thigh and carry them off to a secluded spot.[9][72] Once the prey collapses, the wolves will tear open the abdominal cavity and commence feeding on the animal, sometimes before it has died.[9] On some occasions, wolves will not press an attack, and will wait for their prey to die from their wounds before feeding begins.[80] Wolves will occasionally attack pregnant ungulates to feed on the fetus(es), leaving the mother uneaten.[81] Usually, it is the dominant pair that works the hardest in killing the pack's target.[64] Wolves have on occasion been observed to engage in acts of surplus killing. This phenomenon is common when wolves target livestock.[82] In the wild, this usually occurs in late winter or spring when deep snow impedes their prey's escape.

Pack status is reinforced during feeding. The breeding pair usually eats first, starting with the heart, liver, and lungs. Wolves of intermediate rank will prevent lower ranking pack members from feeding until the dominant pair finishes eating.[25] The stomach of prey is eaten, though the contents are left untouched if the killed animal is a herbivore. The leg muscles are eaten next, with the hide and bones being the last to be consumed.[64] If they are disturbed while feeding, they will instead focus their attention on their prey's fat deposits rather than internal organs.[84][85] A single wolf can eat up to 3.2–3.5 kg of food at a time, though they can eat as much as 13–15 kg when sufficiently hungry. A wolf's yearly requirement is 1.5 tons of meat.[9] Wolves can go without sustenance for long periods, with a Russian record showing how one specimen survived for 17 days without food.[6] Research has shown that 2 weeks without food will not weaken a wolf's muscle activity.[9] After eating, wolves will drink large quantities of water to prevent uremic poisoning.[6] A wolf's stomach can hold up to 7.5 litres of water.[9] Wolves supplement their diet with vegetation. Scat analysis found 75% of samples found Yellowstone National Park wolves’ summer diet contained plants mostly grass (Graminae).[86] In some areas of the former Soviet Union wolves have been reported to cause serious damage to watermelon plantations.[75]

Studies on how wolves affect prey populations tend to vary considerably, with some results indicating that wolves dramatically reduce, sometimes locally extirpate some prey species, while others indicate that wolf predation simply takes over from other mortality factors present in wolf-free zones.[66][83] Wolves are not essential for the presence of many other species.

Wolves typically dominate other canid species in areas where they are sympatric. In North America, wolves are generally intolerant of coyotes in their territory; two years after their reintroduction to the Yellowstone National Park, the wolves were responsible for a near 50% drop in coyote populations through both competition and predation.[88] Wolves have been reported to dig coyote pups from their dens and kill them. Wolves typically do not consume the coyotes they kill. There are no records of coyotes killing wolves,[79] though they have been known to gang up on wolves if they outnumber them.[88] Wolves have been observed to allow coyotes to approach their kills, only to chase them down and kill them. Coyote specialist Robert Crabtree of the Yellowstone Ecological Research Center suggested that this behaviour could be linked to the intraspecific territoriality of wolves, even though coyote represent no danger: "Maybe you want to teach your pups tricks of the trade... Maybe wolves are killing coyotes to practice for conflicts with other wolves later in life."[89] Near identical interactions have been observed in Greece between wolves and Golden Jackals.[90] Wolves may kill foxes on kill sites, though not as frequently as they do with coyotes. Raccoon Dogs are also reportedly preyed upon.

Brown Bears are encountered in both Eurasia and North America. The majority of interactions between wolves and Brown Bears usually amount to nothing more than mutual avoidance. Serious confrontations depend on the circumstances of the interaction, though the most common factor is defence of food and young. Brown Bears will use their superior size to intimidate wolves from their kills and when sufficiently hungry, will raid wolf dens. Brown Bears usually dominate wolves on kills, though they rarely prevail against wolves defending den sites. Wolves in turn have been observed killing bear cubs, to the extent of even driving off the defending mother bears. Deaths in wolf/bear skirmishes are considered very rare occurrences, the individual power of the brown bear and the collective strength of the wolf pack usually being sufficient deterrents to both sides.[79] Encounters with American Black Bears occur solely in the Americas; their interactions with wolves are much rarer than those of Brown Bears, due to differences in habitat preferences. The majority of Black Bear encounters with wolves occur in the species' northern range, with no interactions being recorded in Mexico. Wolves have been recorded to kill Black Bears on numerous occasions without eating them. Unlike Brown Bears, Black Bears frequently lose against wolves in disputes over kills.[79] While encounters with brown and black bears appear to be common, polar bears are rarely encountered by wolves, though there are two records of wolf packs killing polar bear cubs.

Large wolf populations limit the numbers of small to medium sized felines. Wolf predation is recorded to reduce lynx populations wherever the two species are sympatric. Lynx populations in Slovakia plummeted during World War II, when large numbers of wolves entered the cat's range. Similarly, in Russia, lynx populations drop in areas with high wolf densities.[92] In the Rocky Mountains and adjacent mountain areas of North America, wolves are usually hostile toward cougars and will kill cubs if given the opportunity. A pack will on occasion appropriate the kills of adult cougars, which respond by increasing their kill rate. Both species have been recorded to kill each other.[79] National Park Service cougar specialist Kerry Murphy stated that the cougar usually is at an advantage on a one to one basis, considering it can effectively use its claws, as well as its teeth, unlike the wolf which relies solely on its teeth.[89] Yellowstone officials have reported that attacks between cougars and wolves are not uncommon. Multiple incidents of cougars taking wolves and vice versa have been recorded in Yellowstone National Park. Researchers in Montana have found that wolves regularly kill cougars in the area.[93] Similarly, large numbers of wolves have been reported to reduce leopard populations in Tibet.[94] However, the reverse is true for larger cats such as tigers. In areas where wolves and tigers share ranges, such as the Russian Far East, the two species typically display a great deal of dietary overlap, resulting in intense competition. Wolf and tiger interactions are well documented in Sikhote-Alin, which until the beginning of the 20th century, held very few wolves. It is thought by certain experts that wolf numbers increased in the region after tigers were largely eliminated during the Russian colonization in the late 1800s and early 1900s. This is corroborated by native inhabitants of the region claiming that they had no memory of wolves inhabiting Sikohte-Alin until the 1930s, when tiger numbers decreased.[95] Tigers depress wolf numbers, either to the point of localized extinction or to such low numbers as to make them a functionally insignificant component of the ecosystem. Wolves appear capable of escaping competitive exclusion from tigers only when human persecution decreases the latter's numbers.[96] Today wolves are considered scarce in tiger inhabited areas, being found in scattered pockets, and usually seen traveling as loners or in small groups. First hand accounts on interactions between the two species indicate that tigers occasionally chase wolves from their kills, while wolves will scavenge from tiger kills. Tigers are not known to prey on wolves, though there are four records of tigers killing wolves without consuming them.[95] This competitive exclusion of wolves by tigers has been used by Russian conservationists to convince hunters in the Far East to tolerate the big cats, as they limit ungulate populations less than wolves, and are effective in controlling the latter's numbers.

Wolves may occasionally encounter Striped Hyenas in the Middle East and Central and South Asia, mostly in disputes over carcasses. Though hyenas usually dominate wolves on a one to one basis, wolf packs have been reported to displace lone hyenas from carcasses.[98] Wolf remains have been found in Cave Hyena den sites, though it is unknown if the wolves were killed or scavenged upon.[99] Unlike cave hyenas, which preferentially preyed on lowland animals such as horses, wolves relied more on slope-dwelling ibex and Roe Deer, thus minimising competition. Wolves and Cave Hyenas seem to display negative abundance relations over time, with wolf populations expanding their ranges as hyenas disappeared.

Wolves can communicate visually through a wide variety of expressions and moods ranging from subtle signals, such as a slight shift in weight, to more obvious ones, such as rolling on their backs to indicate complete submission.[101]

    * Dominance – A dominant wolf stands stiff legged and tall. The ears are erect and forward, and the hackles bristle slightly. Often the tail is held vertically and curled toward the back. This display asserts the wolf's rank to others in the pack. A dominant wolf may stare at a submissive one, pin it to the ground, "ride up" on its shoulders, or even stand on its hind legs.
    * Submission (active) – During active submission, the entire body is lowered, and the lips and ears are drawn back. Sometimes active submission is accompanied by muzzle licking, or the rapid thrusting out of the tongue and lowering of the hindquarters. The tail is placed down, or halfway or fully between the legs, and the muzzle often points up to the more dominant animal. The back may be partly arched as the submissive wolf humbles itself to its superior; a more arched back and more tucked tail indicate a greater level of submission.
    * Submission (passive) – Passive submission is more intense than active submission. The wolf rolls on its back and exposes its vulnerable throat and underside. The paws are drawn into the body. This posture is often accompanied by whimpering.
    * Anger – An angry wolf's ears are erect, and its fur bristles. The lips may curl up or pull back, and the incisors are displayed. The wolf may also arch its back, lash out, or snarl.
    * Fear – A frightened wolf attempts to make itself look small and less conspicuous; the ears flatten against the head, and the tail may be tucked between the legs, as with a submissive wolf. There may also be whimpering or barks of fear, and the wolf may arch its back.
    * Defensive – A defensive wolf flattens its ears against its head.
    * Aggression – An aggressive wolf snarls and its fur bristles. The wolf may crouch, ready to attack if necessary.
    * Suspicion – Pulling back of the ears shows a wolf is suspicious. The wolf also narrows its eyes. The tail of a wolf that senses danger points straight out, parallel to the ground.
    * Relaxation – A relaxed wolf's tail points straight down, and the wolf may rest sphinx-like or on its side. The wolf may also wag its tail. The further down the tail droops, the more relaxed the wolf is.
    * Tension – An aroused wolf's tail points straight out, and the wolf may crouch as if ready to spring.
    * Happiness – As dogs do, a wolf may wag its tail if in a joyful mood. The tongue may roll out of the mouth.
    * Hunting – A wolf that is hunting is tensed, and therefore the tail is horizontal and straight.
    * Playfulness – A playful wolf holds its tail high and wags it. The wolf may frolic and dance around, or bow by placing the front of its body down to the ground, while holding the rear high, sometimes wagged. This resembles the playful behavior of domestic dogs.

Howling and other vocalisations

Wolf howls, which can last from 0.5–11 seconds, typically have a frequency of 150-780 Hz.[17] Howling helps pack members keep in touch, allowing them to communicate effectively in thickly forested areas or over great distances. Howling also helps to call pack members to a specific location. Howling can also serve as a declaration of territory, as shown in a dominant wolf's tendency to respond to a human imitation of a "rival" wolf in an area the wolf considers its own. This behavior is stimulated when a pack has something to protect, such as a fresh kill. As a rule of thumb, large packs will more readily draw attention to themselves than will smaller packs. Adjacent packs may respond to each others' howls, which can mean trouble for the smaller of the two. Wolves therefore tend to howl with great care.[102] Wolves will also howl for communal reasons. Some scientists speculate that such group sessions strengthen the wolves' social bonds and camaraderie—similar to community singing among humans.[102] During such choral sessions, wolves will howl at different tones and varying pitches, making it difficult to estimate the number of wolves involved. This confusion of numbers makes a listening rival pack wary of what action to take. For example, confrontation could be disastrous if the rival pack gravely underestimates the howling pack's numbers. A wolf's howl may be heard from up to ten miles (16 km) away, depending on weather conditions. Observations of wolf packs suggest that howling occurs most often during the twilight hours, preceding the adults' departure to the hunt and following their return. Studies also show that wolves howl more frequently during the breeding season and subsequent rearing process.[103] The pups themselves begin howling soon after emerging from their dens and can be provoked into howling sessions easily over the following two months. Such indiscriminate howling usually is intended for communication, and does not harm the wolf so early in its life.[102] Howling becomes less indiscriminate as wolves learn to distinguish howling pack members from rival wolves. The Arabian and Iranian wolf subspecies are unusual as they are not known to howl.

Growling, while teeth are bared, is the most visual warning wolves use. Wolf growls have a distinct, deep, bass-like quality which can range from 250-1,500 Hz.[17] It is often used to threaten rivals, though not necessarily to defend themselves. Wolves also growl at other wolves while being aggressively dominant. Wolves bark when nervous or when alerting other wolves of danger but do so very discreetly and will not generally bark loudly or repeatedly as dogs do. Instead they use a low-key, breathy "whuf" sound which can measure from 320–904 Hz[17] to immediately get attention from other wolves. Wolves also "bark-howl" by adding a brief howl to the end of a bark. Wolves bark-howl for the same reasons they normally bark. Generally, pups bark and bark-howl much more frequently than adults, using these vocalizations to cry for attention, care, or food. A lesser known sound is the rally. Wolves will gather as a group and, amidst much tail-wagging and muzzle licking, emit a high-pitched wailing noise interspersed with something similar to (but not the same as) a bark. Rallying is often a display of submission to an alpha by the other wolves.[105] Wolves also whimper, a sound with a maximum range of 3,500 Hz,[17] usually when submitting to other wolves. Wolf pups whimper when they need a reassurance of security from their parents or other wolves.

Taxonomy

The gray wolf is a member of the genus Canis, which comprises between 7 and 10 species. It is one of six species termed 'wolf', the others being the Red Wolf (Canis rufus), the Indian Wolf (Canis indica), the Himalayan Wolf (Canis himalayaensis), the Eastern Wolf (Canis lycaon), and the Ethiopian Wolf (Canis simensis), although concerning a couple of these there is still some uncertainty as to whether they should be considered subspecies of Canis lupus or species in their own right. Recent genetic research suggests that the Indian Wolf, originally considered only as a subpopulation of the Iranian Wolf (Canis lupus pallipes), represents a distinct species (Canis indica). Similar results were obtained for the Himalayan Wolf, which is traditionally placed into the Tibetan Wolf (Canis lupus laniger).[106]

With respect to common names, spelling differences result in the alternative spelling grey wolf. As the first-named and most widespread of species termed "wolf", gray wolves are often simply referred to as wolves. It was one of the many species originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his eighteenth-century work, Systema Naturae, and it still bears its original classification, Canis lupus.[107] The binomial name is derived from the Latin Canis, meaning "dog", and lupus, "wolf".
Timeline of canids including Canis lupus in red. (Tedford & Xiaoming Wang)
Desert dwelling grey wolf subspecies, such as this Arabian wolf, tend to be smaller than their more northern cousins.

Classifying gray wolf subspecies can be challenging. Although scientists have proposed a host of subspecies, wolf taxonomy at this level remains controversial. Indeed, only a single wolf species may exist. Taxonomic modification will likely continue for years to come.

Current theories propose that the gray wolf first evolved in Eurasia during the early Pleistocene. The rate of changes observed in DNA sequence date the Asiatic lineage to about 800,000 years, as opposed to the American and European lineages which stretch back only 150,000. The gray wolf migrated into North America from the Old World, probably via the Bering land bridge, around 400,000 years ago. However, they did not become widespread until 12,000 years ago, when the native American megafauna began dying out. It is thought by certain experts that the wolf's Eurasian origin could account for its relative inability to modify its behaviour in light of human encroachment, compared to native American predators like black bears, cougars and coyotes which were under greater predation pressure from larger, now extinct predators.[70] The gray wolf then coexisted with the Dire Wolf (Canis dirus). Although more heavily built and possessing a stronger bite, the dire wolf's dentition was less adept at crushing bones than the grey wolf was.[24] The Dire Wolf ranged from southern Canada to South America until about 8,000 years ago when climate changes are thought to have caused it to become extinct. After that the gray wolf is thought to have become the prime canine predator in North America.

At one point, up to 50 gray wolf subspecies were recognized. Though no true consensus has been reached, this list can be condensed to 13–15 general extant subspecies. Modern classifications take into account the DNA, anatomy, distribution, and migration of various wolf colonies. As of 2005[update], 37 subspecies are currently described, including the dingo and the domestic dog.[111] Wolves show a great deal of dimorphism geographically. For example, North American wolves are, overall, generally the same size as European breeds, but have have larger, rounder heads, broader, more obtuse muzzles, shorter legs and are usually more robust. European wolves on the contrary tend to have longer, more highly placed ears, narrower heads, more slender loins and coarser, less luxuriant fur.[112][113] However, wolves of different geographical locations can interbreed. The Zoological Gardens of London for example once successfully managed to mate a male European wolf to an Indian female, resulting in a cub bearing an almost exact likeness to its sire.[114] Geographical differences in behaviour are also apparent: wolves in the Middle East and Southern Asia tend to be less social than European and North American wolves,[51] and howl much less.[6] North American wolves tend to be less adaptable in the face of human advancement than their European counterparts: Southern European wolves successfully live in areas with much higher human densities than what North American wolves will tolerate.

Relation to the dog

Much debate has centered on the relationship between the wolf and the domestic dog, though most authorities see the wolf as the dog's direct ancestor (see Origin of the domestic dog). Because canids have evolved recently and different species interbreed readily, untangling the relationships has been difficult. However, molecular systematics now indicate very strongly that domestic dogs and wolves are closely related, and the domestic dog is now normally classified as a subspecies of the wolf: Canis lupus familiaris. Additionally, breeding experiments in Germany with poodles, wolves, and later on with the resulting wolf-dogs showed unrestricted fertility, mating via free choice and no significant communication problems (even after a few generations). This contrasted with the hybrid offspring of poodles crossed with coyotes and jackals, which all showed a decrease in fertility and significant communication problems, as well as an increase in genetic diseases after three generations of interbeeding. The researchers therefore concluded that domestic dogs and grey wolf are the same species.[116] DNA evidence has demonstrated that canis lupus lupus and canis lupus familiaris are genetically very similar. Both have 39 chromosomes, representing roughly 19000 genes spread over 2.4 billion base pairs [117] In a 2005 study reported in Nature, genetic similarity was assessed within breed, between breeds, and between subspecies by measuring the frequency of single nucleotide polymorphisms. The dogs studies were genetically most similar to others of the same breed (SNP frequency roughly 1/1600). The primary breed studied, the boxer, was also genetically similar to other breeds (SNP frequency roughly 1/900), although there was some variance depending on breed. For instance, the boxer was found to be significantly less similar to Alaskan Malamutes (SNP frequency roughly 1/750). The boxer was found to be least similar to other canids, including canis lupus lupus (SNP frequency roughly 1/580) and coyotes (SNP frequency roughly 1/400). From these analyses, it can be estimated that the variance between canis lupus lupus and canis lupus familiaris is roughly twice as great as the variance within the subspecies canis lupus familiaris, and four times as great as the variance within an individual breed.

Domestication

There is a great deal of controversy surrounding the divergence of domestic dogs from wolves. The number of divergence events, the approximate date of these events, and the location of these events have not been conclusively determined. Archaeological evidence clearly shows that dogs diverged from wolves more than 15,000 years ago, but it could have been much earlier. Genetic studies suggest that dogs were domesticated in three or four events, including relatively small wolf populations, in East Asia upwards of 100,000 years ago. These studies, however, depend on assumptions that are likely to be violated; the date could be much earlier or later. Most archaeologists believe that dogs diverged from wolves between 15,000 and 35,000 years ago, and that domestication events were caused by human lifestyle changes (e.g., establishment of permanent towns). It is agreed that all domestication events occurred in Eurasia, and that domestic dogs likely entered North America with one of the subsequent waves of humans roughly 12,000 years ago. Thus, dogs are believed to have spread very quickly throughout the world.[118] Which exact subspecies of wolf gave rise to dogs is still debated. Some scientists point to the Tibetan wolf, noting that the uppermost part of the lower jaw is turned back as in the dog, though not so in other grey wolf subspecies, while others state that the Indian Wolf was more likely, due to its small size and more docile behaviour.

Physical and behavioural differences

Despite their close relationship, wolves and dogs show a number of physical and behavioural differences. Some experts cite these differences as a basis for rejecting the ancestral wolf hypothesis,[4] while others theorise that the lack of characteristics in some domestic dogs (e.g. regurgitating of food or strict pack structure) present in wolves is not a distinguishing feature between the two species, but a degeneration caused through irresponsible breeding or lack of knowledge as several domestic dogs (especially among those who reverted to the wild) show these characteristics while others do not.

Certain instinctive and social behaviors displayed by wolves may not be expressed in dogs simply because the opportunity never arises in their captive social setting. However, even when dogs range freely in wild or semi-wild circumstances, they show marked divergences from their wild ancestors. In a comparative study on poodles and wolves, wolf biologist Eric Zimen and his colleagues recorded 362 specific behaviors displayed by wolves, 64% of which were displayed by poodles with little or no change, while 13% of wolf behaviors had vanished altogether. 23% of wolf-like mannerisms persisted but in markedly modified forms. In performing many of these modified wolf-like behaviors, the poodles lacked a seriousness of purpose, being indiscriminate and ineffectual in their choice of "prey", similar to young wolves at play. In the poodles, many of the subtle facial and body expressions characteristic of wolves were greatly simplified, while many were absent altogether. Aggressive and defensive postures were greatly muted, due to poodles being generally less fearful, less aggressive and are more tolerant to invasions of personal space. Unlike adult wolves, which avoid physical contact with each other when sleeping, the poodles continued to frequently lie together through the age of eight months or older, even in hot weather when there was no conceivable reason for huddling to preserve body heat.[121] Dogs are much more accepting of strangers than adult wolves, which become increasingly xenophobic as they age. The fighting styles of wolves and dogs also differ significantly: while dogs typically limit themselves to attacking the head, neck and shoulder, wolves make greater use of body blocks, and attack the extremeties of their opponents, causing greater damage.

Compared to equally sized wolves, dogs tend to have 20% smaller skulls and 10% smaller brains, as well as proportionately smaller teeth than other canid species.[15] The premolars and molars of dogs are much more crowded. Dog's teeth also have less complex cusp patterns, and their tympanic bulla is much smaller than in wolves.[123] As the brains of domestic dogs are smaller than those of wolves, they require fewer calories to survive. The dog's diet of human refuse in antiquity made the large brains and jaw muscles needed for hunting unnecessary. It is thought by certain experts that the dog's limp ears are a result of atrophy of the jaw muscles.[15] The paws of a dog are half the size of those of a wolf, and their tails tend to curl upwards, another trait not found in wolves.

Interspecific hybridization

Wolves can interbreed with domestic dogs and produce fertile offspring. Wolf-dog hybrids are generally said to be naturally healthy animals, and are affected by less inherited diseases than most breeds of dog. Wolfdogs are usually healthier than either parent due to heterosis.[124] According to the National Wolfdog Alliance, 40 U.S. states effectively forbid the ownership, breeding and importation of wolfdogs, while others impose some form of regulation upon ownership.[125] Most European nations, as well as many U.S. counties and municipalities, also either outlaw the animal entirely or put restrictions on ownership.[126] Although wolves in the wild will usually kill dogs, matings of dogs and wild wolves has been confirmed in some populations through genetic testing. As the survival of some continental wolf packs is severely threatened, scientists fear that the creation of wolf-dog hybrid populations in the wild is a threat to the continued existence of some isolated wolf populations. Hybridization in the wild usually occurs near human habitations where wolf density is low and dogs are common. However, extensive wolf-dog hybridization is not supported by morphological evidence, and analyses of mtDNA sequences have revealed that such matings are rare.[10] In some cases, the presence of dewclaws is considered a useful, but not absolute indicator of dog gene contamination in wild wolves. Dewclaws are the vestigial fifth toes of the hind legs common in domestic dogs but thought absent from pure wolves, which only have four hind toes.[13] Observations on wild wolf hybrids in the former Soviet Union indicate that wolf hybrids in a wild state may form larger packs than pure wolves, and have greater endurance when chasing prey.[8] Genetic research from the University of California, Los Angeles revealed that wolves with black pelts owe their distinctive coloration to a mutation that first arose in domestic dogs.

Wolves and coyotes can interbreed and produce fertile offspring, a fact which calls into question their status as two separate species.[128] The offspring, known as a coywolf, is generally intermediate in size to both parents, being larger than a pure coyote, but smaller than a pure wolf. A study showed that of 100 coyotes collected in Maine, 22 had half or more wolf ancestry, and one was 89 percent wolf. A theory has been proposed that the large eastern coyotes in Canada are actually hybrids of the smaller western coyotes and wolves that met and mated decades ago as the coyotes moved toward New England from their earlier western ranges.[129] The Red Wolf is thought by certain scientists to be in fact a wolf/coyote hybrid rather than a unique species. Strong evidence for hybridization was found through genetic testing which showed that red wolves have only 5% of their alleles unique from either grey wolves or coyotes. Genetic distance calculations have indicated that red wolves are intermediate between coyotes and grey wolves, and that they bear great similarity to wolf/coyote hybrids in southern Quebec and Minnesota. Analyses of mitochondrial DNA showed that existing Red Wolf populations are predominantly coyote in origin.

Current and historical status

The Gray Wolf was once the world's most widely distributed mammal, living north of 15°N latitude in North America and 12°N in Eurasia.[130] Though once abundant, the gray wolf inhabits a very small portion of its former range because of widespread destruction of its habitat, human encroachment of its habitat, and the resulting human-wolf encounters that sparked broad extirpation.[130] This reduction has been greatest in developed areas of Europe, Asia, Mexico and the United States because of poisoning and deliberate persecution.[130]

In 1982 through 1994, the grey wolf was listed as vulnerable to extinction by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Changes in legal protections, land-use and population shifts to urban areas have stopped the decline in wolf population.[130] Additionally, recolonization and reintroduction programs have increased wolf populations in Western Europe and the western United States.[130] As a result, in 1996, the IUCN reduced the risk status of the gray wolf to being of least concern.[130] Today, the conservational status of wolves varies greatly. They are protected in some areas, hunted for sport in others, or may be subject to extermination as perceived threats to livestock and pets.

Despite not being at risk for extinction, local populations of wolves are still threatened. One such threat is genetic bottlenecking caused by population fragmentation.[131] Human populations have isolated small pockets of animals, which then suffer the effects of inbreeding. Studies have shown that the reproduction rate in wolves is strongly related to genetic diversity.[132] Isolated wolf populations are greatly affected by the introduction of the alleles of even a single additional wolf.[131] A small, isolated group of wolves on Isle Royale is believed to be suffering from the effects of reduced genetic variability. In 1991, the population was reduced from 50 to 12 wolves. Studies have shown that this reduction has coincided with a 50% loss of allozyme heterozygosity.

Wolves tend to have difficulty adapting to change, and are often referred to as an indicator species; a species delineating an ecoregion or indicating an environmental condition such as a disease outbreak, pollution, species competition, or climate change. Wolves do not seem to be able to adapt as readily to expanding civilization the way coyotes do. While human expansion has seen an increase in the latter's numbers, it has caused a drop in those of the former.

Relationships with humans

In folklore and mythology

Humans historically have had a complex and varied viewpoint of wolves. In many parts of the world, wolves were respected and revered, while in others they were feared and held in distaste. The latter viewpoint was notably accentuated in European folklore beginning in the Christian era, though wolves did feature as heraldic animals on the arms and crests of numerous noble families. Many languages have given names (almost universally masculine) meaning "wolf", examples including the Scandinavian Ulf, Albanian "Ujk", German and Yiddish Wolf/Volf, Hebrew Ze'ev, Hungarian Farkas, Serbian Vuk, Ukrainian Vovk, Romanian Lupu, Lupescu/Lupulescu, and Bulgarian Vǎlko. Wolves also figure prominently in proverbs. Many Chinese proverbs use wolves as a description towards any ill-willed person with a hidden agenda like Wolf hearted (狼子野心) which could also connote to the impossibility of taming bad people, while Wolf heart; dog lungs (狼心狗肺) refers to an ungrateful person who later betrays someone who previously helped them. The Kazakh language has up to 20 proverbs referring to wolves, while the Russian language has 253.

Attacks on humans

Wild wolves are typically timid around humans, though how they react to people generally depends on prior experiences with humans rather than inherent behaviour.[70][134] When they have sufficient habitat and food and are rarely hunted, wolves will usually try to avoid contact with people, to the point of even abandoning their kills when an approaching human is detected.[73] However, there are several circumstances in which wolves have been recorded to act aggressively toward humans, including provocation, habituation, rabies, mistaken identity, teaching cubs how to hunt, hybridization with dogs and seasonal prey scarcity.[36][135] Unprovoked attacks by non-rabid wolves are rare. Historically, the majority of predatory attacks occurred in the June–July period, with victims being predominantly women and children.[36][71][136] Predatory attacks by wolves against humans tend to be clustered in space and time, indicating that human-killing is not a normal wolf behavior, but a specialized behavior that single wolves or packs develop and maintain until killed. However, compared to other carnivorous mammals known to attack humans, the frequency with which wolves have been recorded to kill people is rather low, indicating that though potentially dangerous, wolves are among the least threatening of their size and predatory potential.[36] Wolf attacks were an occasional but widespread feature of life in pre-20th century Europe.[137] In France alone, historical records indicate that in the period 1580–1830, 3,069 people were killed by wolves, of which 1,857 were killed by non-rabid wolves.[138] The case of the Beast of Gevaudan is well documented, though whether the culprit was a wolf or a wolf-like animal is still debated.[36] There are numerous documented accounts of wolf attacks in the Asian continent, with three Indian states reporting a large number of non-rabid attacks in recent decades. These attacks were well documented by trained biologists.[36][72] In Hazaribagh, Bihar for example, 100 children were injured and 122 killed from 1980 to 1986.[72] Russia also records numerous attacks, particularly in pre-revolutionary times and after WWII. Between 1840 and 1861, 273 non-rabid attacks resulting in the deaths of 169 children and 7 adults occurred throughout Russia,[139] while between 1944 and 1950, 22 children between the ages of 3 and 17 were killed by wolves in the Kirov Oblast (see Kirov wolf attacks).[140] North America has fewer cases of verified wolf attacks than Europe and Asia. In many sections of the United States, there was a propaganda campaign to garner support for state-sponsored bounties

33rd Iditarod 2005

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:45:23 +0100

The ceremonial start of the 33rd annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race across the U.S. state of Alaska began in Anchorage on March 5, 2005 at 10 AM AKST (19:00 UTC), and restarted in Willow the next day at 2 PM (23:00 UTC). After covering 1,161 miles (1,868 km) of wilderness, musher Robert Sørlie, an airport firefighter from Norway, crossed the finish line under the "burled arch" in Nome on March 16 at 8:39 AM AKST (17:39 UTC). After taking care of his dogs, and an inspection to make sure all the mandatory equipment was in his sled, Sørlie was declared the winner by Race Marshal Mark Norman, with a time of 9 days, 18 hours, 39 minutes, and 31 seconds and won USD $72,066.67 and a new truck. When asked how it felt to win a second time, Sørlie said "it feels good, I'm ready for breakfast",[2] live on the Alaska superstation. His team of dogs averaged 4.65 mi/h (7.58 km/h). The Red Lantern in last was Phil Morgan, an Alaska Airlines pilot, and when he crossed the finish line on March 21 at 8:02 PM AKST (March 22, 5:02 UTC), the Widow's Lantern hanging on the burled arch was extinguished, which signalled the end of the race.

Sørlie became the first non-U.S. resident to win the race in 2003, and the similarities between his two victories are striking. In both races he was plagued by insomnia, pulled ahead by the halfway point of the race, managed to hold on to a sizeable but diminishing lead, and was reduced to 8 of 16 dogs by the finish. Both races were also slowed by poor trail conditions, which was caused by unseasonably warm weather with daily highs that hovered just above freezing.

The finishers banquet was held on March 20, and 62 of 63 mushers had crossed the finish line and were able to attend. Bjørnar Andersen won the Rookie of the Year Award, with the best place by a rookie since 1976. Martin Buser, who lost part of a finger in a table-saw accident less than a week before the race, had exposed nerves trimmed by a veterinarian, and finished 12th won both the Sportsmanship and the Most Inspirational Musher awards. The Golden Harness was given to Whitestock, one of Sørlie's lead dogs. (ITC, March 21, 2005)

Sixteen other mushers have scratched, including the only five-time champion of the Iditarod, Rick Swenson, and the legally blind Rachael Scdoris, who caused a media sensation at the start of the race. The top 30 arrived by the end of March 17 AKST. As of the end of March 19 AKST the top 54 arrived at Nome, by the end of March 20 all but one musher arrived in Nome. The dogs Rita, Nellie, Oakley, and Tyson have died, belonging to Paul Gebhardt, Doug Swingley, Jason Barron, and Michael Salvisberg respectively.

March 5: Ceremonial start

Anchorage to Campbell Airstrip: The ceremonial start of the 33rd annual Iditarod race began at 10 AM Alaska Standard Time on March 5, 2005 in Anchorage. The first "bib" position out of the starting chute on Fourth Avenue and D Street was reserved for honorary musher Jirdes Winther Baxter, the last known survivor of the children who were saved from a diphtheria epidemic by the historic 1925 serum run to Nome.[5] Baxter rode out of the starting chute on Fourth Avenue and D Street in the sled of 15 year old Melissa Owens, who won the 138-mile (222 km) Junior Iditarod on February 27, with a time of 1 day, 51 minutes, and 27 seconds. Earlier in the year, Owens also placed second in the Junior Yukon Quest.

Separated by intervals of at least two minutes, the competitors departed starting at 10:02 AM. The last team left at 12:53 PM. In addition to the musher and the team of 12 dogs, each dog sled also carried a family member or friend, and an "Idita-Rider". The Idita-Riders seats were auctioned off in January, and raised a total of USD $140,021, with an average bid of $1918.09. The auction was held entirely online for the first time in 2005.

The teams passed through 1.5 miles (2.4 km) of city streets lined with an estimated 100,000 people.[8] The temperature was 32 °F (0 °C). Due to the warm weather and poor trail conditions, the first leg of the race was shortened by the Iditarod Trail Committee on February 27, and ended at Campbell Airstrip 11 miles (18 km) from Anchorage, instead of the traditional checkpoint 20 miles (32 km) away at Eagle River.

March 6: Restart in Willow

Restart at Willow:[9] From the Airstrip the teams were shipped by truck across the Knik River to the restart point, which is normally at the Iditarod Headquarters in Wasilla. Due to clement weather the restart was moved 30 miles (48 km) north to Willow, and the checkpoint at Knik was skipped.

The time to Nome is calculated from Sunday, March 6, at 2 PM when the first team departed from Willow Lake, behind the community center. The remaining teams left, staggered by two-minute intervals, until the last departed at 4:36 PM. Each departing team had 16 dogs, and no more can be added during the race.

In 2004, the starting time of the race was pushed back from 10 AM. Sled dogs perform better in temperatures close to 0 °F (−20 °C), and this allows mushers to run their teams through the cold of the night until they cross the Alaska Range into the Interior. Among the last three to leave were previous Iditarod winners Martin Buser and Jeff King, who entered the race at the last minute to secure a late starting position.

An estimated 12,000 to 15,000 fans watched the restart, and the area was thronged by snowmobiles (snowmachines, in Alaska), bonfire parties, and between 4,000 and 5,000 cars. The chaos is hard on the dogs, who are accustomed to the wilderness; Kelly Griffin's team ran into the crowd before steering back on course.

Yentna:[13] Jessie Royer was the first to arrive at Yetna Station on March 6 at 5:37 PM, and Rachael Scdoris was the last at 9:34 PM. The top 10 mushers departed within an hour of each other, and the top 30 within two hours.

Skwentna:[15] An early lead pack developed as Jessica Henricks, the 2003 Rookie of the Year,[16] became the first to arrive at Skwentna on March 6 at 8:59 PM, followed by DeeDee Jonrowe almost 30 minutes later, and then Phil Morgan, Rick Swenson, and Mike Williams. Scdoris was the last to arrive at 7:31 AM the next day. Hans Gatt departed first, at 10:28 PM. The top 10 departed within 2 hours of each other, and the top 30 within 6 hours.

G. B. Jones became the first musher to scratch from the race, on March 7 in Skwentna. The Iditarod veteran indicated he had problems with sled quality, his lead dogs, and personal health ever since the restart in Willow.(pdf)

March 7: Alaska Range

The heat and soft snow slowed the race, and the glare off the snow was blinding during the day.

Finger Lake:[19] Melanie Gould arrived first at Finger Lake on March 8 at 5:38 AM, followed by Hendricks at 5:50 AM, and then Swenson and Jonrowe an hour later. Dallas Seavey was the last to arrive at 6:59 PM. Jonrowe was the first depart, at 7:02 AM, followed by Swenson a minute later, and Lance Mackey, Mike Williams, Robert Sørlie, and Buser within the hour. The top 10 (15) departed within 2 hours, and the top 30 within four hours.

Happy Valley Gorge leading up to Rainy Pass is hazardous in regular years, but in 2005 the trail conditions were miserable, especially for the mushers at the back. Snowmobiles threw up frozen wakes, and the leading dogsleds riddled the trail with potholes, some more than 3-foot (0.914 m) deep.

Other notable crashes on the way to Rainy Pass:

    * "Visual interpreter" Paul Ellering lost two-way communication with Scdoris when his radio was destroyed in a crash.
    * Jacques Philips caught his hand between a tree and the handle bar on his sled while coming up Happy Valley Gorge. His hand was either broken or dislocated, and required medical treatment so Philips scratched in Rainy Pass on March 7. In 1985, Philip became the first French musher to race in the Iditarod, and is a three-time winner of the European Alpirod dog sled race.
    * Judy Merrit fell and was knocked unconscious while traversing the Happy Valley Gorge. She remained at Rainy Pass lodge for two days, before scratching on March 9, citing a concussion, persistent headaches, and fatigued dogs. She later said "the steps and the gorge are my dragon".

Rainy Pass: While making the long climb to the Rainy Pass Lodge on Puntilla Lake, DeeDee Jonrowe hit a snowmobile sitting on the trail, and sheared off a bolt connecting the runner to her sled. She still arrived first, on March 7 at 10:27 AM. Dallas Seavey, the last to arrive at 10:53 AM the next day, lost two runners on the way in. Former runner-up Ramy Brooks was the first to depart, at 12:11 PM, but nobody else left within the next two hours. The top 10 all left within 6 hours, and the top 30 within 8 hours.

From the lodge, the route crosses through Rainy Pass in the Alaska Range, then descends into the Interior. A helicopter observed a woman crashing multiple times along the steep descent known as the Dalzell Gorge.[35]

Rohn: Sørlie starts to set the pace across the Interior. He is the first to arrive in Rohn, on March 7 at 7:08 PM, followed by Buser almost two hours later. Brooks is again the first to depart, at 10:42 PM, as the early leaders start to pull away from the pack. The top 10 depart in 6 hours, and the top 30 in about 9 hours.

On the way to Nikolai, Swingley broke a runner and lost a pad on his sled while negotiating the wildfire badlands of the Farewell Burn. Scdoris suffered scratches and a large bruise on her hip after crashing into a tree, after her snow hook snagged on the ground.

Sonny Lindner from Michigan became the third to scratch on March 8, citing health problems. Lindner was the 1984 winner of the Yukon Quest.

March 8

Nikolai: Sørlie continues to set the pace by arriving first at Nikolai on March 8 at 11:16 AM, followed by Brooks and Jonrowe about an hour later. Sørlie is also the first to depart, at 5:09 PM. The 10 fastest mushers follow quickly, in just over 3 hours, but the top 30 now lag up to 11 hours behind. Sørlie has insomnia, just like he did when he won in 2003, though his dogs are resting well.

McGrath:.Sørlie wins the Spirit of Alaska Award when he arrives at the hub of the Interior first, on March 8 at 10:40 PM. He continued on just four minutes later. The top 10 are stretched over about 6-1/2 hours, and the top 30 over about 21 hours.

On March 10 Rick Swenson, the only five-time winner of the race, scratched for the first time, citing concern for his dogs. He had left McGrath, arrived at Taknotna, and was on his way to Ophir when he returned all the way to McGrath, the central hub for dropped dogs in the Interior. Swenson reported he was down to 11 dogs, and needed to drop two, which would have left him with only 9 dogs in harness. Swenson was first "King of the Iditarod", with a string of three victories in five years in the 1970s, and wins in both the 1980s and the 1990s. From his first race, he has only missed two races in 31 years. Five dogs were injured when he arrived in McGrath before turning back.

Gary McKellar scratched at McGrath on March 12, after resting his team overnight. McKellar cited concerns about his team's performance and their well being. McKellar was the Red Lantern in last place.

March 9

When arguing for stricter emission limits during the debate over the "Clear Skies" bill, Senator Tom Carter (D-DE) used the northerly shift of the restart location as an example of global warming.

Takotna:Sørlie became the first to arrive at Takotna on March 9 at 0:42 AM, followed by Brooks, Jonrowe, and Ally Zirkle. Sørlie is the first to depart at 6:54 AM. The top 10 follow within 8 hours, and the top 30 within 28 hours.

Andersen from Norway and Swingley from Montana begin traveling together. Andersen was Swingley's dog handler in 2000, after meeting at a Norway convention. Cliff Wang from Montana scratched at Takotna on March 11, citing concerns for his team after unseasonably warm weather in Montana impact their training.

Ophir:[50] Sørlie again was the first to arrive, on March 9 at 9:12 AM, followed by Buser, then Brooks. Sørlie departs 13 minutes later. The top 10 follow within 11 hours, and the top 30 within 22 hours.

After leaving Ophir in 8th place, Zack Steer became the fifth musher to scratch when he returned on March 9 for undisclosed personal reasons.(pdf). Steer's wife is pregnant and due later this month.[53] Scott Smith from Wyoming scratched at Ophir on March 12, citing concerns for his team which only had nine dogs left.

The trail between Ophir and Iditarod was in poor shape, and efforts to improve it were too late for the front runners.

March 10: Halfway point at Iditarod

The checkpoint closest to the middle of the race on odd-numbered years is the trail's namesake, the historic gold rush ghost town of Iditarod (meaning "far distant place").

Iditarod: Sørlie wins the Dorothy G. Page Halfway Award and USD $4,000 in gold nuggets when he arrives at Iditarod on March 10 at 1:41 AM.pdf While the Halfway Award is sometimes considered a jinx, Sørlie also won it before his victory in 2003. He was followed by Brooks an hour later, then Buser. Paul Gebhardt becomes the first musher to depart the midpoint at 5:59 PM. The top 10 stretched over 14 hours, and the top 30 over 24 hours.

Standings through the Interior can be deceptive because all mushers are required to take one mandatory 24 hour layover during the race, usually at Takotna, McGrath, or Iditarod. The differential in starting times is adjusted during this period, and most of the racers were on a level playing field after Iditarod.

March 11: Yukon River

Shageluk: Most of the other teams stopped at McGrath, Takotna, or Iditarod for their mandatory 24 hour layover, allowing Gebhardt to arrive at Shageluk more than 7 hours ahead of the next musher on March 11 at 2:45 AM. Gebhardt left 10 minutes later, followed by the top 10 within 19 hours, and the top 30 within 33 hours.

Anvik: Gebhardt won the First Musher to Reach the Yukon Award when he arrived at Anvik on March 11 at 7:14 AM, and was served a 7-course meal prepared by a chef from the Millennium Hotel Anchorage. (pdf)[58] Sørlie retakes the lead when he departs at 9:31 PM. The top 10 are within just over 6 hours, and the top 30 within 19 hours. After his 24 hour rest, Gebhardt dropped to 15th place.

Conditions were relatively good at this stage, but the highs remained above freezing. This favored teams trained in warmer areas, like Swingley from Montana, and Sørlie and Andersen from Norway.[59][60] Some teams even faced rain on the way to Anvik. Andersen breaks into the top 10, and remains there until at least Kaltag. He is at least 10 hours ahead of the next rookie, and is set to take the Rookie of the Year Award. Sørlie's nephew, he and may follow his uncle's pattern of placing in the top 10 in his first race.

Mushers are required to stop at a checkpoint along the Yukon River before leaving the Interior, but only for 8 hours.

Charlie Boulding scratched at Anvik on March 12. Boulding is a former winner of the Yukon Quest (1991, 1993), and finished in the top 10 in eight of thirteen Iditarods, placing 3rd in 1998.(pdf) Boulding planned to retire this year. Bill Cotter scratched on March 13, because his team was sick.

March 12

Grayling: Jonrowe was the first to arrive at Grayling on March 12 at 0:21 AM, and took her mandatory 8 hour break. Sørlie arrived within 15 minutes, and continued to Eagle Island 5 minutes later, followed by Buser an hour and a half later.[63][64] The top 10 followed within 12 hours, and the top 30 within 24 hours.

King reported that the warm fresh snow was sticking the runners of the sleds.[65] Above freezing temperatures hindered the dogs.[66] On March 15, Robert Greger scratched because the dogs were not performing to his expectations, and so did Sandy McKee.

Eagle Island: Sørlie is the first to arrive at the Eagle Island on March 12 at 11:30 AM, after a 14 hour run from Grayling. Buser was the second to arrive on March 13 3:25 PM, after losing two hours backtracking to find Quebec, who slipped from the gangline during a snowstorm. Quebec had a habit of eating heavily, and then backing up and stepping to the side before relieving himself. According to Buser's wife Kathy Chapoton, "at this point, that's a huge lead".[68] Brooks, Mitch Seavey, and Jonrowe followed. Sørlie was the first to depart at 7:31 PM, followed by Lance Mackey 17 minutes later, then Brooks, Buser, and Jonrowe. The top 10 are within 7 hours, and the top 30 are within 21 hours. At this stage, all the pacesetters have taken their mandatory 24 and 8 hour layovers.

The temperatures are just above freezing, and a freezing rain advisory has been issued for Kaltag. On March 16, Scdoris scratched after several of her dogs came down with a viral diarrhea, saying "it was not an eye thing. It was a my-dogs-are-sick thing". Another concern was weight loss: her dogs were fed canned dog food, with some kibble, salmon and fat, which did not help maintain their weight as well as the heavy meat diet most dogs are fed. (pdf).[71] Her guide Paul Ellering scratched shortly after, saying "I'm just the kind of guy who leaves with the girl he came to the dance with". Scdoris had navigated the most treacherous portions of the race, including Happy Valley, Dazell Gorge, and the Farewell Burn before she withdrew, and plans to return next year. "All the tough spots were tough, but I now know I can do it".

March 13: Bering Sea

Kaltag: Sørlie was the first to arrive at Kaltag on March 13 at 3:43 AM. He left Kaltag in first place at 8:44 AM, followed by Brooks about an hour later, Buser another hour later, and John Baker yet another hour later. The top 10 are within slightly more than 6 hours, and the top 30 are within 26 hours. On March 16, Karen Ramstead scratched here, citing concerns for her team and trail conditions. Her teams is composed of Siberian huskies, instead of the more common mixed-breed Alaska huskies.

Unalakleet:Sørlie won the Alaska Gold Coast Award for reaching Unalakleet in first place on March 13, at 20:45 PM.(pdf) Sørlie was the first to depart at on March 14 at 0:11 AM. The top 10 departed within 8 hours, and the top 30 within 27 hours. Sørlie said, "it's still a long way to Nome".

The trail normally runs down the Unalakleet River into town, but shifted 7 miles (11 km) due to water overflowing the ice.(pdf) The xtrail markers led through a 1-foot (0.30 m) deep over flow, which several teams went through. Temperatures are expected to hit the 40s (F, or 5–10 °C) through March 16. Unalakleet is on the shore of the Norton Sound, and the race normally picks up pace and intensity as the leaders start the long final dash north and west along the shore of the Bering Sea to Nome.

March 14

Shaktoolik:[80] Sørlie was the first to arrive on March 14 at 7 AM, followed by Brooks an hour and a half later. Sørlie remained in the lead as he left Shaktoolik on March 14 at 12:05 PM (UTC 21:05), but his lead diminished to less than an hour as he was followed by Mitch Seavey, then Buser, and a strong pack including Brooks, Lance Mackey, King, Ed, Jonrowe, and Baker, who are consistently averaging 1 to 1.5 mi/hr (1.5 to 2.5 km/h) faster between checkpoints. The top 10 departed within 5-1/2 hours, and the top 30 in about 29 hours. Sørlie's teammate Andersen is now trailing Swingley by 26 minutes and has slipped from the top 10, but he is still more than a checkpoint ahead of Louis Nelson, Sr., the next rookie.

The teams are getting smaller as fatigued and poorly performing dogs are left behind. The top 10 are running with between 9 to 12 dogs, down from 16, and the majority have either 10 or 11. A fair number of dogs have been dropped with fatigue or sprains caused by the poor conditions of the trail. Teams with less than 9 dogs lack power. There has been a fair amount of rain, which helps keep the dogs cool in the high temperatures. The winds as the teams cross the exposed ice of the Norton Sound on the way to Koyuk may reach 40 mi/h (65 km/h). This is the stretched covered by Leonhard Seppala and his lead dog Togo during the 1925 serum run. Teams may press through to Koyuk to catch Sørlie.

Koyuk: Sørlie arrived first on March 14 at 5:57 PM, and was the first to depart three minutes later. The top 10 departed within 8-1/2 hours, and the top 30 spread out 38 hours.

March 15

Elim: Sørlie arrived first on March 15 at 1:17 AM, and departed three hours later. John Baker was the second musher to arrive, 7 minutes after Sørlie's departure. The top 10 stretched out 10 hours, and the top 30 are now 39 hours apart. Sørlie and Buser left dogs behind, dropping their teams to just 8. Lance Mackey is in 11th place, which is the best position a winner of the Yukon Quest has held in a same-year Iditarod. The trail follows the coast then crosses inland over the Kwitalik Mountains.

White Mountain: Sørlie again was slow, taking almost 9 hours to arrive on March 15 at 12:59 PM, and may have gotten lost on Little McKinley. Normally a 5 to 7 hour trip, the slushy, soppy snow or just fatigue have slowed the top 10, though Iten rocketed in to arrive second, followed by a very fast Mitch Seavey, and a quick Brooks. Andersen, after hovering around 10th place, jumped to 6th. The remainder of the front-runners are more than four hours behind, and will start jockeying for position; slipping just one place in the final standings can cost several thousand dollars (USD) in prize money. The top 10 left within 9 hours.

Sørlie departed in exactly 8 hours, and the rest are taking their mandatory 8 hour rests. The parallels between the current race and his victory in 2003 are striking: in both races, he pulled ahead early and held onto a sizeable lead, dropped to a mere 8 dogs, and faced soft sticky snow. On March 14 to March 15, a storm along the southern shore of the Seward Peninsula grounded most airplanes, which prevented the small aircraft of the Iditarod Air Force from flying veterinarians and race officials into White Mountain before the leaders arrived, though local volunteers were present. The whiteout conditions and open water on the trail made snowmobile travel unsafe. This is the first time since at least 1988 that veterinarians were present to check teams arriving at a checkpoint, and the single veterinarian at Elim was overworked. Flights began again on March 16, but gusts of winds remained high (30 to 35 mph). The top 10 departed within 9 hours. After two scratches, Scdoris and Ellering are in last place. It normally takes about 10 hours from White Mountain to Nome.

March 16: Burled arch in Nome

Safety: Robert Sørlie of Norway was the first to leave Safety on March 16 at 4:52 PM AKST (March 16 13:52 UTC), with only 22 miles (35 km) from the finish line. Ed Iten cut his lead to just one hour and five minutes, but is unlikely to catch up. Mitch Seavey left 42 minutes later, then Sørlie's teammate Bjørnar Andersen, just 18 minutes later. Barring a catastrophe Andersen will win the Rookie of the Year Award. The top 10 departed within 8 hours.

The rest of the top 15 are two-time runner up Ramy Brooks, John Baker, Paul Gebhardt, this year's winner of the Yukon Quest Lance Mackey, Jessie Royer, three-time winner Jeff King, four-time winner Martin Buser, DeeDee Jonrowe, Aliy Zirkle, four-time winner Doug Swingley, and Jessica Hendricks. The front-runners are jockeying for position, because slipping just one place in the final standings can cost several thousand dollars (USD) in prize money. Legally blind Rachael Scdoris and her "visual interpreter" Paul Ellering are in last place, and are en route from Grayling to Eagle Island.Team Norway

Nome: Robert Sørlie of Norway crossed the finish line under the "burled arch" in Nome on March 16 at 8:39 AM AKST, winning the race with a time of 9 days, 18 hours, 39 minutes, and 31 seconds. The top 10 finished in just over 7 hours.[93][94] (pdf) (pdf) This was a relatively close race; in 33 Iditarods the race has been won by less than an hour only nine times, the last time in 1993 when Jeff King beat DeeDee Jonrowe.

Ed Iten made a hard push at the end of the race, and finished 26 minutes later in second place, beating his previous best of 5th in 2004. Last year's champion Mitch Seavey's bid to take the lead came up a little short, but he successfully fended off Sørlie's teammate and nephew, Bjørnar Andersen, to place third. Andersen's 4th place finish with Team Norway's second string of dogs makes him the highest placed rookie since 1976, and wins him the Rookie of the Year Award. Two-time runner up Ramy Brooks took 5th place more than an hour and a half later than Andersen, and he was followed by John Baker just 11 minutes later. Lance Mackey arrived 2-1/2 hours later, in 7th place, which is the best anyone has ever done in the Iditarod after winning the Yukon Quest in the same year, followed by Jesse Royer, Paul Gebhardt, and DeeDee Jonrowe. The remaining racers jockeyed for position, because slipping just one place in the final standings can cost several thousand USD in prize money.

Former winners Buser and King pushed hard toward the end of the race, but ended up in 12th and 13th place. Buser credits the delay in turning and picking up Quebec as the primary factor.

Royer in 8th place was the first of the young female mushers who took the lead early in the race to cross the finish line, passing Jessica Hendricks at Koyuk, and then catching up with Buser, King, Swingley, and Jonrowe at Elim and passed all but Mackey as they crossed Little McKinley before reaching Golovin. Royer even passed Gebhardt, just outside Nome, though King was close behind. Former Yukon Quest winner Aliy Zirkle placed 11th, and Tustumena 300 winner Jessica Hendricks placed 15th.
Place     Musher     Lead dog(s)     Time (h:min:s)     Prize (USD)
1st     Robert Sørlie     Sox & Blue     9 days, 18:39:31     $72,066.67
2nd     Ed Iten         9 days, 19:13:33     $65,800.00
3rd     Mitch Seavey         9 days, 19:20:58     $59,533.33
4th     Bjørnar Andersen         9 days, 19:50:38     $52,222.22
5th     Ramy Brooks         9 days, 21:30:00     $45,955.56
6th     John Baker         9 days, 21:41:00     $41,777.78
7th     Lance Mackey         10 days, 00:21:00     $38,644.44
8th     Jessie Royer         10 days, 01:03:30     $35,511.11
9th     Paul Gebhardt         10 days, 01:24:20     $32,377.78
10th     DeeDee Jonrowe         10 days, 01:42:55     $29,244.44
11th     Aliy Zirkle         10 days, 01:46:30     $26,111.11
12th     Jeff King         10 days, 02:21:21     $22,977.78
13th     Martin Buser         10 days, 02:32:40     $20,888.89
14th     Doug Swingley         10 days, 02:59:03     $18,800.00
15th     Jessica Hendricks         10 days, 03:20:28     $17,755.56
16th     Tyrell Seavey         10 days, 05:25:52     $16,711.11
17th     Ken Andersen         10 days, 09:25:54     $15,666.67
18th     Hans Gatt         10 days, 12:26:05     $14,622.22
19th     Tim Osmar         10 days, 15:08:25     $13,577.78
20th     Ramey Smyth         10 days, 16:12:59     $12,533.33
21st     Louis Nelson, Sr.         10 days, 16:17:45     $11,488.89
22nd     Vern Halter         10 days, 17:20:15     $9,400.00
23rd     Melanie Gould         10 days, 19:04:17     $8,355.56
24th     Aaron Burmeister         10 days, 19:09:39     $5,535.56
25th     Ray Redington, Jr.         10 days, 20:17:04     $4,700.00
26th     Hugh H. Neff         10 days, 20:17:04     $3,446.67
27th     Diana Moroney         11 days, 01:07:56     $2,820.00
28th     Peter Bartlett         11 days, 01:37:28     $2,402.22
29th     Harmony Barron         11 days, 06:04:34     $2,193.33
30th     Jason Barron         11 days, 06:08:56     $1,880.00

Sørlie said, "I think this win is better than the 2003. This year, the dogs are better."Sørlie is first non-U.S. resident to win the race, and the second foreign citizen, after four time winner Martin Buser who was a Swiss citizen who became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2002.

Sørlie also said, "I have proved that I can do the ordinary race".[2] The 2003 race was restarted in Fairbanks, due to weather, and followed a heavily modified route. "People said I won the last one because the course was so different. This year we were back to the original route, starting in Anchorage. The course from Fairbanks was much easier."[99] While the weather this year favored mushers who trained in warmer climates (Swingley from Montana placed higher than expected with an inexperienced team), the victory by Sørlie over a normal route, and the impressive rookie showing by Andersen is already leading to speculation that other mushers will copy their training techniques. Andersen's place is the best since 1976, just a few years after the first race in 1973 when all the mushers were rookies.

Sørlie races the Iditarod every other year, alternating with his teammate Backen, but after Andersen's finish he indicated the team may push Andersen instead and said, "I haven't decided whether I'll run in 2007".[99] The three have a team of 50 dogs, and according to Sørlie "this year was my time to take the best team. Next year will be for Bjornar."At 47, Sørlie is also the oldest winner of the Iditarod.

March 21

The Red Lantern in last was Phil Morgan, an Alaska Airlines pilot, and when he crossed the finish line on March 21 at 8:02 PM AKST (March 22, 5:02 UTC), the Widow's Lantern hanging on the burled arch was extinguished, which signalled the end of the race. The Christmas lights and banners were also taken down. He took 15 days, 6 hours, 2 minutes, and 57 seconds and completed the race with 8 dogs, becoming the only musher unable to attend the Finisher's Banquet the night before. Many mushers scratched because of poor conditions, and the Red Lantern signifies "stick-to-itiveness". Morgan is a 737-200 pilot.[102] (pdf)[103]

Trailing the pack, Morgan became the only musher to blizzard en route from White Mountain. Three of his dogs were in heat at the start of the race, and he had to drop his lead dogs at Iditarod. Morgan has been a volunteer with the Iditarod Airforce since 1995. According to Morgan, "we lived through some crazy experiences".

According to Nome Mayor Leo Rasmussen, the race brought a total of USD $23 million in business to the state of Alaska in the 1990s. Nome and other areas in Alaska had a financial slump during the winter due to high fuel prices.

Competitors

There are a total of 79 mushers entered in the race, including 19 from the continental United States (the "Lower 48"), 9 from outside the U.S., 16 women, and 28 rookies, who are competing in their first Iditarod.A total of 23 entrants withdrew before the start of the race. The entry fee was USD $1,850.

The 2005 race has competitors from four countries. Norway is represented by Trine Lyrek, Bjørnar Andersen, and the 2003 winner, Robert Sørlie. Canada is represented by Hans Gatt from British Columbia, Karen Ramstead from Alberta, Aaron Peck from Ontario, and Sebastian Schunelle and Michael "Longway" Salvisberg from the Yukon Territory. Dodo Perri from Italy, and another competitor from Italy, and one each from Germany and South Africa withdrew before the start of the race.

Nineteen competitors are from other states in the U.S., with the most (seven) from Montana: Harmony Barron, Jason Barron, John Barron, Robert Greger, Melanie Shirilla, four-time winner Doug Swingley, and Cliff Wang. In addition, Gregg Hickman, Andrew Letzring, and Ed Stielstra are from Michigan; Perry Solomonson and Mark Stamm are from Washington; Bill Pinkham and Lachlan Clarke are from Colorado; Steve Rasmussen and Paul Ellering are from Minnesota; Rachael Scdoris is from Oregon, Scott Smith is from Wyoming, and Bryan Mills is from Wisconsin. Greg Paulsen from New Mexico withdrew. The remainder are Alaskan.

The field is extremely competitive, with no clear favorites. As of March 5, 2005, every winner since 1990 is scheduled to race. These include

The relatively warm conditions may favor dogs trained in the Lower 48 states. The mixed breed huskies favored by mushers perform best in sub-zero weather, and dogs trained in relatively warm conditions will be more acclimated. Until reaching the cold of the Alaska Interior, most mushers prefer to run their teams during the night and sleep during the day, to take advantage of the colder temperatures. On the other hand, unseasonably warm temperatures made is more difficult to train sled dogs in Montana and other locations.Sørlie, Buser, Jonrowe, and Seavey trained in warmer climates, while Boulding trained his dogs in the cold Interior.

    * Charlie Boulding (scratched): A two-time winner of the Yukon Quest who placed 3rd in his best Iditarod, he a popular, distinctive figure. He announced he was retiring before the start of the race.

    * Ramy Brooks: Finished in 2nd place twice.

    * Martin Buser: Four time champion (1992, 1994, 1997, and 2002) and holder of the all-time speed record, he lost a finger above the second joint in a table saw accident as part of an "unplanned weight-loss program"[110] several days before the race, and is taking painkillers and antibiotics. Until it was trimmed, Buser's exposed nerve "kept catching and jolting my insides", and a doctor flew in to Iditarod to give him more antibiotics.

    * Hans Gatt: Three-time winner of the Yukon Quest. He followed his win in 2002 with 23rd place finish in the Iditarod, 2nd only to Tim Osmar's 18th place finish in 2001 after winning the Quest.

    * DeeDee Jonrowe: Second place finisher in 1993 and 1998, and competitor in 21 Iditarods. She is a fan-favorite, after finishing in 4th in 1997 after a car crash, and competing in 2003 just three weeks after the end of chemotherapy for breast cancer.

    * Jeff King: Three-time winner (1993, 1996, 1998), and also a previous winner of the Yukon Quest.

    * Major Thomas Knolmayer: The only active duty serviceperson in the race is the chief of surgery at Elmendorf Air Force Base.

    * Lance Mackey: Winner of the 2005 Yukon Quest (as a rookie) just 3 weeks before, and the first to be a contender in both races in the same year.

    * Gary Paulsen (withdrew): The prolific author of many young adult books on the Iditarod including Winterdance and Woodsong, who was planning a return after a 20 year absence withdrew before the race.

    * Rachael Scdoris: Scodoris is from Bend, Oregon, who is afflicted with congenital achromatopsia, is the first legally blind musher to compete. In 2004, she competed in the Beargrease race along the shore of Lake Superior, placing sixth. The story of petition in 2003 to the Iditarod Trail Committee under the auspices of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 was chronicled in her autobiography, No End in Sight, co-authored with Rick Steber. As a result, arrangements were made for her to follow a "visual interpreter", former professional wrestler Paul Ellering, who will notify her by two-way radio or shouting of upcoming hazards. Ellering has competed in one previous Iditarod, placing 54th in 2000.According to Scdoris, "I need someone to tell me where to turn. And there's that whole low-hanging-branches-coming-out-of-nowhere question".[123][124] She became the media sensation before the start of a race, partly driven by a strong public relations campaign driven by her father, including a CD, "Go Rachael!" buttons, and an 8-page color brochure for the members of the press.

    * Mitch Seavey: The returning champion. His two sons Tyrell and Dallas are also competing. His dogs are known for stamina and pulling ahead at the end of the race.[126] Seavey said, "The trail was soft and punchy. We spent hours and hours and hours wallowing in deep snow."

    * Dallas Seavey: He turned 18 on March 4, 2005, became the youngest musher in the history of the Iditarod. He was also able to became the first to compete in both the Junior Iditarod and the Iditarod in the same year, because his birthday fell between the two events.[128] He also competed in Junior Yukon Quest, with fellow legacies Nikolai and Rohn Buser.

    * Robert Sørlie: Winner in 2003, and did not compete in 2004 so an undefeated champion. Sørlie and rookie Andersen condition their dogs by running them 4,000 miles (6,400 km) a year, mixing 24 hour runs for endurance, with time taken out to play. "It's getting into their mind, trying to get the dogs happy", according to Andersen. Sørlie's team is in excellent shape after long runs, and recovers after a short rest.

    * Rick Swenson (scratched): Only five-time champion (1977, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1991), and only person to compete in 29 Iditarods.

    * Doug Swingley, also a four-time winner (1995, 1999–2001), suffered frostbite in his corneas during the 2004 race when he neglected to wear goggles, and has impaired night vision.[108] Swingley did not expect his young team to be competitive.

    * Aily Zirkle: Former Yukon Quest champion.

Dogs

Gebhardt's dog Rita dropped dead while in harness en route from Anvik on March 12. According to the veterinarians there were no signs of abuse, so Gebhardt was allowed to continue and left the checkpoint. Reports indicate he was "downcast" or "devastated", and according to veterinarian Bill Daly he was crying. A preliminary necropsy indicates the cause of death was anemia, from gastric ulcers. This was the first canine fatality of the race. Despite the weather, there are few cases of hyperthermia (overheating). Two dogs died during the 2004 Iditarod.[131][132][133] (pdf)[134]

Nellie, Doug Swingley's dog died in Anchorage on March 17, after being dropped off in Elim at March 15 with pneumonia. The gross necropsy indicated an intestinal abnormality (a double intussusception), and more tests are pending. (pdf) (pdf)

Oakley, Jason Barron's dog died on March 17 on the way to Nome from Safety.(pdf) The gross necropsy revealed no cause of death, and more tests are pending.(pdf)

Tyson, Michael Salvisberg's dog died on March 18. Tyson was dropped in White Mountain and transported to Nome. The dog was tied to the ski of the plane but the lead came loose and Tyson ran onto the ice of the Bering Sea, fell into open water, and drowned.

Both sides in the controversy about whether the race constitutes dog abuse weigh in fringe news sources[135][136][137]

A team of veterinarians from Oklahoma State University are studying the dogs of the Iditarod as part of a Department of Defense grant to determine how dogs can run up to 10 hours without fatigue.[138]

Dogs dropped at the checkpoints during the race were flown to one of the regional hubs at Unalakleet, McGrath, or Anchorage and then to Hiland Mountain-Meadow Creek Correctional Center in Eagle River, where they were cared for by minimum security inmates who volunteered for the responsibility.[139]

The race averages 3 dog deaths per year.

Iditarod Dog Sled Race

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:35:19 +0100

The Iditarod Dog Sled Race is an annual sled dog race in Alaska, where mushers and teams of typically 16 dogs cover 1,161 miles (1,868 km) in eight to fifteen days from Willow (near Anchorage) to Nome. The race begins on the first Saturday in March. The 2010 race will begin on March 6th, The Iditarod began in 1973 as an event to test the best sled dog mushers and teams, evolving into the highly competitive race it is today. The current fastest winning time record was set in 2002 by Martin Buser with a time of 8 days, 22 hours, 46 minutes, and 2 seconds.

Teams frequently race through blizzards causing whiteout conditions, and sub-zero weather and gale-force winds which can cause the wind chill to reach −100 °F (−73.3 °C). The trail runs through the U.S. state of Alaska. A ceremonial start occurs in the city of Anchorage and is followed by the official restart in Willow, a city in the south central region of the state. The restart was originally in Wasilla, but due to too little snow, the restart was permanently moved to Willow in 2008.[2] The trail proceeds from Willow up the Rainy Pass of the Alaska Range into the sparsely populated interior, and then along the shore of the Bering Sea, finally reaching Nome in western Alaska. The teams cross a harsh landscape under the canopy of the Northern Lights, through tundra and spruce forests, over hills and mountain passes, and across rivers. While the start in Anchorage is in the middle of a large urban center, most of the route passes through widely separated towns and villages, and small Athabaskan and Inupiaq settlements. The Iditarod is regarded as a symbolic link to the early history of the state, and is connected to many traditions commemorating the legacy of dog mushing. Each year the trails switch; every even year they take the north trail and odd years they take the south trail.

The race is the most popular sporting event in Alaska, and the top mushers and their teams of dogs are local celebrities; this popularity is credited with the resurgence of recreational mushing in the state since the 1970s. While the yearly field of more than fifty mushers and about a thousand dogs is still largely Alaskan, competitors from fourteen countries have completed the event including the Swiss Martin Buser, who became the first international winner in 1992.

The Iditarod received more attention outside of the state after the 1985 victory of Libby Riddles, a long shot who became the first woman to win the race. Susan Butcher became the second woman to win the race, and went on to dominate for half a decade. Print and television journalists and crowds of spectators attend the ceremonial start at the intersection of Fourth Avenue and D Streets in Anchorage, and in smaller numbers at the checkpoints along the trail.

History

Portions of the Iditarod Trail were used by the Native American Inupiaq and Athabaskan peoples hundreds of years before the arrival of Russian fur traders in the 1800s, but the trail reached its peak between the late 1880s and the mid 1920s as miners arrived to dig coal and later gold, especially after the Alaska gold rushes at Nome in 1898, and at the "Inland Empire" along the Kuskokwim Mountains between the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers, in 1908.

The primary communication and transportation link to the rest of the world during the summer was the steamship; but between October and June the northern ports like Nome became icebound, and dog sleds delivered mail, firewood, mining equipment, gold ore, food, furs, and other needed supplies between the trading posts and settlements across the Interior and along the western coast. Roadhouses where travelers could spend the night sprang up every 14 to 30 miles (23 to 48 km) until the end of the 1920s, when the mail carriers were replaced by bush pilots flying small aircraft and the roadhouses vanished. Dog sledding persisted in the rural parts of Alaska, but was almost driven into extinction by the spread of snowmobiles in the 1960s.

During its heyday, mushing was also a popular sport during the winter, when mining towns shut down. The first major competition was the tremendously popular 1908 All-Alaska Sweepstakes (AAS), which was started by Allan "Scotty" Alexander Allan, and ran 408 miles (657 km) from Nome to Candle and back. The event introduced the first Siberian huskies to Alaska in 1910, where they quickly became the favored racing dog, replacing the Alaskan malamute and mongrels bred from imported huskies and other large breeds, like setters and pointers. In 1914, the Norwegian immigrant Leonhard Seppala first appeared, and went on to win the race in 1915, 1916, and 1917, before the race was discontinued in 1918 during World War I.

The most famous event in the history of Alaskan mushing is the 1925 serum run to Nome, also known as the "Great Race of Mercy." A diphtheria epidemic threatened Nome, especially the Inuit children who had no immunity to the "white man's disease," and the nearest quantity of antitoxin was found to be in Anchorage. Since the two available planes were both dismantled and had never been flown in the winter, Governor Scott Bone approved a safer route. The 20-pound (9.1 kg) cylinder of serum was sent by train 298 miles (480 km) from the southern port of Seward to Nenana, where it was passed just before midnight on January 27 to the first of twenty mushers and more than 100 dogs who relayed the package 674 miles (1,085 km) from Nenana to Nome. The dogs ran in relays, with no dog running over 100 miles (160 km).

The Norwegian Gunnar Kaasen and his lead dog Balto arrived on Front Street in Nome on February 2 at 5:30 a.m., just five and a half days later. The two became media celebrities, and a statue of Balto was erected in Central Park in New York City in 1925, where it has become one of the most popular tourist attractions. However, most mushers consider Leonhard Seppala and his lead dog Togo to be the true heroes of the run. Together they covered the most hazardous stretch of the route, and carried the serum farther than any other team.

The Centennial Race, along portions of the Iditarod Trail, was the brainchild of Dorothy G. Page, who wanted to sponsor a sled dog race to honor mushers. With the support of Joe Redington Sr. (named the "Father of the Iditarod" by one of the local newspapers), the first race (then known as the Iditarod Trail Seppala Memorial Race in honor of Leonhard Seppala) was held in 1967 and covered 25 miles (40 km) near Anchorage. The purse of USD $25,000 attracted a field of 58 racers, and the winner was Isaac Okleasik. The next race, in 1968, was canceled for lack of snow, and the small $1,000 purse in 1969 only drew 12 mushers.

Redington along with two school teachers, Gleo Huyck and Tom Johnson was the impetus behind extending the race more than 1,000 miles (1,600 km) along the historic route to Nome. The three co-founders of the race started in October 1972 to plan the now famous race. A major fundraising campaign which raised a purse of $51,000 was also started at the same time. This race was the first true Iditarod Race and was held in 1973, and attracted a field of 34 mushers, 22 of whom completed the race. Dorothy Page had nothing to do with the 1973 race, stating that she "washes her hands of the event". The event was a success; even though the purse dropped in the 1974 race, the popularity caused the field of mushers to rise to 44, and corporate sponsorship in 1975 put the race on secure financial footing. Despite the loss of sponsors during a dog abuse scandal in 1976, the Iditarod caused a resurgence of recreational mushing in the 1970s, and has continued to grow until it is now the largest sporting event in the state. While the race was originally patterned after the All Alaska Sweepstakes, the Iditarod Trail Committee promotes it as a commemoration of the serum delivery.

The race's namesake is the Iditarod Trail, which was designated as one of the first four National Historic Trails in 1978. The trail in turn is named for the town of Iditarod, which was an Athabaskan village before becoming the center of the Inland Empire's Iditarod Mining District in 1910, and then turning into a ghost town at the end of the local gold rush. The name Iditarod may be derived from the Athabaskan haiditarod, meaning "far distant place".

The main route of the Iditarod trail extends 938 miles (1,510 km) from Seward in the south to Nome in the northwest, and was first surveyed by Walter Goodwin in 1908, and then cleared and marked by the Alaska Road Commission in 1910 and 1911. The entire network of branching paths covers a total of 2,450 miles (3,940 km). Except for the start in Anchorage, the modern race follows parts of the historic trail.

Route

This route is a grueling one. While always longer than 1,000 miles (1,600 km), the trail is actually composed of a northern route, which is run on even-numbered years, and a southern route, which is run on odd-numbered years. Both follow the same trail for 444 miles (715 km), from Anchorage to Ophir, where they diverge and then rejoin at Kaltag, 441 miles (710 km) from Nome. The race used the northern route until 1977, when the southern route was added to distribute the impact of the event on the small villages in the area, none of which have more than a few hundred inhabitants. Passing through the historic town of Iditarod was a secondary benefit.

Aside from the addition of the southern route, the route has remained relatively constant. The largest changes were the addition of the restart location in 1975, and the shift from Ptarmigan to Rainy Pass in 1976. Checkpoints along the route are also occasionally added or dropped, and the ceremonial start of the route and the restart point are commonly adjusted due to weather.

As a result the exact measured distance of the race varies, but according to the official website the northern route is 1,112 miles (1,790 km) long, and the southern route is 1,131 miles (1,820 km) long (ITC, Southern & Northern). The length of the race is also frequently rounded to either 1,050, 1,100, or 1,150 miles (1690, 1770 or 1850 km), but is officially set at 1,049 miles (1688 km), which honors Alaska's status as the 49th state.

Checkpoints

There are currently 25 checkpoints on the northern route and 26 on the southern route where mushers must sign in. Some mushers prefer to camp on the trail and immediately press on, but others stay and rest. Mushers purchase supplies and equipment in Anchorage, which are flown ahead to each checkpoint by the Iditarod Air Force. The gear includes food, extra booties for the dogs, headlamps for night travel, batteries (for the lamps, music, or radios), tools and sled parts for repairs, and even lightweight sleds for the final dash to Nome. There are three mandatory rests that each team must take during the Iditarod: one 24-hour layover, to be taken at any checkpoint; one eight-hour layover, taken at any checkpoint on the Yukon River; and an eight-hour stop at White Mountain. Other than these three mandatory stops, the mushers may be racing their dogs.

In 1985, the race was suspended for the first time for safety reasons when weather prevented the Iditarod Air Force from delivering supplies to Rohn and Nikolai, the first two checkpoints in the Alaska Interior. Fifty-eight mushers and 508 dogs congregated at the small lodge in Rainy Pass for three days, while emergency shipments of food were flown in from Anchorage. Weather also halted the race later at McGrath, and the two stops added almost a week to the winning time.

Ceremonial start

The race starts on the first Saturday in March, at the first checkpoint on Fourth Avenue, in downtown Anchorage. A five-block section of the street is barricaded off as a staging area, and snow is stockpiled and shipped in by truck the night before to cover the route to the first checkpoint. Prior to 1983, the race started at Mulcahy Park.

Shortly before the race, a ribbon-cutting ceremony is held under the flags representing the home countries and states of all competitors in the race. The first musher to depart at 10:00 a.m. AST is an honorary musher, selected for their contributions to dog sledding. From the first race in 1973 until 1980, the honorary musher was Leonhard Seppala, who covered the longest distance in the 1925 diphtheria serum run. The first competitor leaves at 10:02, and the rest follow, separated by two-minute intervals. The start order is determined during a banquet held two days prior by letting the mushers choose their starting position. Selections are made in the order of musher registrations and mushers may choose any position that has not been previously chosen. The teams are helped to the starting line by several handlers and lined up at the starting line while the musher sets their brake in anticipation of the signal to start.

On the sled will also be an "Idita-Rider". The Idita-Riders purchase via auction in the preceding January the right to ride; the first auction was held entirely online for the first time in 2005. In 2005, the average bid was USD $1918.09, and raised a total of $140,021.00. This is an exciting portion of the race for dogs and musher, as it is one of the few portions of the race where there are spectators, and the only spot where the trail winds through an urban environment. However, In "Iditarod Dreams," DeeDee Jonrowe wrote, "A lot of mushers hate the Anchorage start. They don't like crowds. They worry that their dogs get too excited and jumpy.[3] The time for covering this portion of the race does not count toward the official race time per rule #55, so the dogs, musher, and Idita-Rider are free to take this all in at a relaxed pace. The mushers then continue through several miles of city streets and city trails before reaching the foothills to the east of Anchorage, in Chugach State Park in the Chugach Mountains. The teams then follow Glenn Highway for two to three hours until they reach Eagle River, 20 miles (32 km) away. Once they arrive at the Veterans of Foreign Wars building, the mushers check in, unharness their teams, return them to their boxes, and drive 30 miles (48 km) of highway to the restart point.

During the first two races in 1973 and 1974, the teams crossed the mudflats of Cook Inlet to Knik (the original restart location), but this was discontinued because the weather frequently hovers around freezing, turning it into a muddy hazard. The second checkpoint also occasionally changes due to weather; in 2005, the checkpoint was changed from Eagle River to Campbell Airstrip, only 11 miles (18 km) away.

Restart

After the dogs are shuttled to the third checkpoint, the race restarts the next day (Sunday) at 2:00 p.m. AST. Prior to 2004, the race was restarted at 10:00 a.m., but the time has been moved back so the dogs will be starting in colder weather, and the first mushers arrive at Skwentna well after dark, which reduces the crowds of fans who fly into the checkpoint.
Thomas Knolmayer's team at the alternate start point in Willow in 2005

The traditional restart location was the headquarters of the Iditarod Trail Committee, in Wasilla, but in 2008 the official restart was pushed further north to Willow Lake. In 2003 it was bumped 300 miles (480 km) north to Fairbanks due to warm weather and poor trail conditions. The mushers depart, separated by the same intervals as their arrival at the second checkpoint.

The first 100 miles (160 km) from Willow through the checkpoints at Yentna Station Station to Skwentna are known as "moose alley". The many moose in the area find it difficult to move and forage for food when the ground is thick with snow. As a result, the moose sometimes prefer to use pre-existing trails, causing hazards for the dog teams. In 1985, Susan Butcher lost her chance at becoming the first woman to win the Iditarod when her team made a sharp turn, and encountered a pregnant moose. The moose killed two dogs and seriously injured six more in the twenty minutes before Duane "Dewey" Halverson arrived and shot the moose. In 1982, Dick Mackey, Warner Vent, Jerry Austin, and their teams were driven into the forest by a charging moose.

Otherwise, the route to Skwentna is easy, over flat lowlands, and well marked by stakes or tripods with reflectors or flags. Most mushers push through the night, and the first teams usually arrive at Skwentna before dawn. Skwentna is a 40-minute hop from Anchorage by air, and dozens of planes land on the airstrip or on the Skwentna River, bringing journalists, photographers, and spectators.

From Skwentna, the route follows the Skwentna River into the southern part of the Alaska Range to Finger Lake. The stretch from Finger Lake to Rainy Pass, on Puntilla Lake, becomes more difficult, as the teams follow the narrow Happy River Gorge, where the trail balances on the side of a heavily forested incline. Rainy Pass is the most dangerous check point in the Iditarod. In 1985, Jerry Austin broke a hand and two of his dogs were injured when the sled went out of control and hit a stand of trees. Many others have suffered from this dangerous checkpoint. Rainy Pass is part of the Historic Iditarod Trail, but until 1976 the pass was inaccessible and route detoured through Ptarmigan Pass, also known as Hellsgate, because of the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake.

Into the Interior

From Rainy Pass, the route continues up the mountain, past the tree line to the divide of the Alaska Range, and then passes down into the Alaska Interior. The elevation of the pass is 3,200 feet (980 m), and some nearby peaks exceed 5,000 feet (1,500 m). The valley up the mountains is exposed to blizzards. In 1974, there were several cases of frostbite when the temperature dropped to −50 °F (−45.6 °C), and the 50-mile-per-hour (80 km/h) winds caused the wind chill to drop to −130 °F (−90.0 °C). The wind also erases the trail and markers, making the path hard to follow. In 1976, retired colonel Norman Vaughan, who drove a dog team in Richard E. Byrd's 1928 expedition to the South Pole and competed in the only Olympic sled dog race, became lost for five days after leaving Rainy Pass, and nearly died.

The trail down Dalzell Gorge from the divide is regarded as the worst stretch of the trail. Steep and twisting, it drops 1,000 feet (300 m) in elevation in just 5 miles (8.0 km), and there is little traction so the teams are hard to control. Mushers have to ride the brake most of the way down, and use a snow hook for traction. In 1988, rookie Peryll Kyzer fell through an ice bridge into a creek, and spent the night wet. The route then follows Tatina River, which is also hazardous: in 1986 Butcher's lead dogs fell through the ice, but landed on a second layer of ice instead of falling into the river. In 1997, Ramey Smyth lost the end of his pinkie when it hit an overhanging branch while negotiating the gorge.[4]

Rohn is the next checkpoint, and is located in a spruce forest with no wind and a poor airstrip. The isolation, and its location immediately after the rigors of Rainy Pass, and before the 75-mile (121 km) haul to the next checkpoint, makes it a popular place for mushers to take their mandatory 24-hour stop. From Rohn, the trail follows the south fork of the Kuskokwim River, where freezing water running over a layer of ice (overflow) is a hazard. In 1975, Vaughan was hospitalized for frostbite after running through an overflow. In 1973, Terry Miller and his team were almost drawn into a hole in the river by the powerful current in an overflow, but were rescued by Tom Mercer who came back to save them.

About 45 miles (72 km) from Rohn, the path leaves the river and passes into the Farewell Burn. In 1976, a wildfire turned 360,000 acres (1,500 km2) of spruce into blackened badland of burnt timber. Fallen trees, and falling through clumps of sedge or grass which balloon out into a canopy 2 feet (610 mm) above the ground, supporting a deceptively thin crust of snow, are common dangers. The Burn forces teams to move very slowly, and can cause paw injuries.

Nikolai, an Athabaskan settlement on the banks of the Kuskokwim River, is the first Native American village used as a checkpoint, and the arrival of the sled teams is one of the largest social events of the year. The route then follows the south fork of the Kuskokwim to the former mining town of McGrath. According to the 2000 census, it has a population of 401, making it the largest checkpoint in the Interior. McGrath is also notable for being the first site in Alaska to receive mail by aircraft (in 1924), heralding the end of the sled dog era. It still has a good airfield, so journalists are common.

The next checkpoint is the ghost town of Takotna, which was a commercial hub during the gold rush. Ophir, named for the reputed source of King Solomon's gold by religious prospectors, is the next checkpoint. By this stage in the race, the front-runners are several days ahead of those in the back of the pack.

Divided path

After Ophir, the trail diverges into a northern and a southern route, which rejoin at Kaltag. On even years, the northern route is used; on odd years the southern route is used. During the first few Iditarods there was only one trail, which followed the route of what is now the northern trail. In the late 1970s, the southern leg of the route was added to give the southern villages a chance to host the Iditarod, and also to allow the route to pass through the trail's namesake, the historical town of Iditarod. The two routes differ by less than 10 miles (16 km).

The northern route first passes through Cripple, which is 503 miles (810 km) from Anchorage, and 609 miles (980 km) from Nome (ITC, Northern), making it the middlemost checkpoint. From Cripple, the route passes through Sulatna Crossing to Ruby, on the Yukon River. Ruby is another former gold rush town which became an Athabaskan village.

The southern route first passes through the ghost town of Iditarod, which is the alternate halfway mark, at 599 miles (964 km) from Anchorage, and 532 miles (856 km) from Nome (ITC, Southern). From Iditarod the route goes through the Athabaskan villages of Shageluk, Anvik, Grayling, and Eagle Island.

Ruby and Anvik are on the longest river in Alaska, the Yukon, which is swept by strong winds which can wipe out the trail and drop the windchill below −100 °F (−73.3 °C). A greater hazard is the uniformity of this long stretch: Suffering from sleep deprivation, many mushers report hallucinations (Sherwonit, 1991).

Both trails meet again in Kaltag, which for hundreds of years has been a gateway between the Athabaskan villages in the Interior, and the Inuit settlements on the coast of the Bering Sea. The "Kaltag Portage" runs through a 1,000-foot (300 m) pass down to the Inuit town of Unalakleet, on the shore of the Bering Sea.

Last dash

In the early years of the Iditarod, the last stretch along the shores of the Norton Sound of the Bering Sea to Nome was a slow, easy trip. Now that the race is more competitive, the last stretch has become one long dash to the finish.

According to the 2000 census, the village of Unalakleet has a population of 747, making it the largest Native American town along the Iditarod. The majority of the residents are Inupiat, the Inuit people of the Bering Strait region. The town's name means the "place where the east wind blows", and the buildings are commonly buried under snowdrifts. Racers are met by church bells or sirens, and mobbed by crowds.

From Unalakleet, the route passes through the hills to the Inupiat village of Shaktoolik, which is also buried in snow, after the northeast wind brings ground blizzards. The route then passes across the frozen Norton Bay, where the markers are young spruce trees that were dropped into holes in the ice, where they froze, to Koyuk. After the Bay, the route swings west along the south shore of Seward Peninsula though the tiny villages of Elim, Golovin and White Mountain.
Robert Sørlie's team approaches Nome, 2007.

All teams must rest their dogs for at least eight hours at White Mountain, before the final sprint. From White Mountain to Safety is 77 miles (124 km), and from Safety to Nome is just 22 miles (35 km). The last leg is crucial because the lead teams are often within a few hours of each other at this point. As of 1991[update], the race has been decided by less than an hour seven different times, less than five minutes three times, and in the closest race the winner and the runner-up were only one second apart.
The old "Burled Arch", the official finish line in Nome, Alaska, which collapsed in 2001

The official finish line is the Red "Fox" Olson Trail Monument, more commonly known as the "burled arch", in Nome. The original burled arch lasted from 1975, until it was destroyed by dry rot and years of inclement weather in 2001. The new arch is a spruce log with two distinct burls, similar but not identical to the old arch. While the old arch spelled out "End of the Iditarod Dog Race", the new arch has an additional word: "End of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race".

A "Widow's Lamp" is lit and remains hanging on the arch until the last competitor crosses the finish line. The tradition is based on the kerosene lamp lit and hung outside a roadhouse, when a musher carrying goods or mail was en route. For this reason, the last musher to complete the Iditarod is referred to as the "Red Lantern".

On the way to the arch, each musher passes down Front Street, and down the fenced-off 50-yard (46 m) end stretch. The city's fire siren is sounded as each musher hits the 2-mile mark before the finish line. While the winner of the first race in 1973 completed the competition in just over 20 days, preparation of the trail in advance of the dog sled teams and improvements in dog training have dropped the winning time to under 10 days in every race since 1996.

An awards banquet is held the Sunday after the winner's arrival. Brass belt buckles and special patches are given to everyone who completes the race.

Participants

More than 50 mushers enter each year. Most are from rural South Central Alaska, the Interior, and the "Bush"; few are urban, and only a small percentage are from the Lower 48, Canada, or overseas. Some are professionals who make their living by selling dogs, running sled dog tours, giving mushing instruction, and speaking about their Iditarod experiences. Others make money from Iditarod-related advertising contracts or book deals. Some are amateurs who make their living hunting, fishing, trapping, gardening, or with seasonal jobs, though lawyers, surgeons, airline pilots, veterinarians, biologists, and CEOs have competed. Per rules#1 and #2, only experienced mushers are allowed to compete in the Iditarod. Mushers are required to participate in three smaller races in order to qualify for the Iditarod. However, they are allowed to lease dogs to participate in the Iditarod and are not required to take written exams to determine their knowledge of mushing, the dogs they race or canine first aid. If a musher has been convicted of a charge of animal neglect, or if the Iditarod Trail Committee determines the musher is unfit, they are not allowed to compete. The Iditarod Trail Committee once disqualified musher Jerry Riley for alleged dog abuse and Rick Swenson after one of his dogs expired after running through overflow. The Iditarod later reinstated both men and allowed them to race. Rick Swenson is now on the Iditarod's board of directors. Rookie mushers must pre-qualify by finishing an assortment of qualifying races first. As of 2006[update], the combined cost of the entry fee, dog maintenance, and transportation was estimated by one musher at between USD $20,000 to $30,000.[5] But that figure varies depending upon how many dogs a musher has, what the musher feeds the dogs and how much is spent on housing and handlers. Expenses faced by modern teams include lightweight gear including thousands of booties and quick-change runners, special high-energy dog foods, veterinary care, and breeding costs. According to Athabaskan musher Ken Chase, "the big expenses [for rural Alaskans] are the freight and having to buy dog food". (Hutchinson) Most modern teams cost $10,000 to $40,000, and the top 10 spend between $80,000 and $100,000 a year. The top finisher won at least $69,000, the remaining top thirty finishers won an average of $26,500 each.[6] Mushers make money from their sponsorships, speaking fees, advertising contracts and book deals.

Dogs

The original sled dogs were Alaskan malamutes bred from wolves by the Mahlemuit tribe, and are one of the earliest domesticated breeds known. They were soon crossbred with Alaskan huskies, hounds, setters, spaniels, German shepherds, and wolves. As demand for dogs skyrocketed, a black market formed at the end of the 19th century, which funneled large dogs of any breed to the gold rush. Siberian huskies were introduced in the early 20th century and became the most popular racing breed during the AAS. The original dogs were chosen for strength and stamina, but modern racing dogs are all mixed-breed huskies bred for speed, tough feet, endurance, good attitude, and most importantly the desire to run. Dogs bred for marathon races weigh from 45 to 55 pounds (20–25 kg), and those bred for sprinting weigh 5 to 10 pounds (2.3–4.5 kg) less, but the best competitors of both types are interchangeable.

The huskies are a northern breed that prefer weather below freezing and above −50 °F (−45.6 °C). They sleep with their tail curled over their nose, which provides extra insulation once they are buried in snow.

Starting in 1974, all dogs are examined by veterinarians before the start of the race, who check teeth, eyes, tonsils, heart, lungs, joints, and feet; and look for signs of illegal drugs, improperly healed wounds, and pregnancy. All dogs are identified and tracked by microchip implants and collar tags. On the trails, volunteer veterinarians examine each dog's heart, hydration, appetite, attitude, weight, lungs, and joints at all of the checkpoints, and look for signs of foot and shoulder injuries, respiration problems, dehydration, diarrhea, and exhaustion. When mushers race through checkpoints the dogs do not get physical exams. Mushers are not allowed to administer drugs that mask the signs of injury, including stimulants, muscle relaxants, sedatives, anti-inflammatories, and anabolic steroids. As of 2005[update], the Iditarod claims that no musher has been banned for giving drugs to dogs. However the Iditarod never reveals the results of tests on the dogs.

Each team is composed of twelve to sixteen dogs, and no more may be added during the race. At least six dogs must be in harness when crossing the finish line in Nome. Mushers keep a veterinary diary on the trail, but are not required to have it signed by a veterinarian at each checkpoint. Dogs that become exhausted or injured may be carried in the sled's "basket" to the next "dog-drop" site, where they are transported by the volunteer Iditarod Air Force to the Hiland Mountain Correctional Center at Eagle River where they are taken care of by prison inmates until picked up by handlers or family members, or they are flown to Nome for transport home.

The dogs are well-conditioned athletes. Training starts in late summer or early fall, and intensifies between November and March; competitive teams run 2,000 miles (3,200 km) before the race. When there is no snow dog drivers train using wheeled carts or all-terrain vehicles set in neutral.[citation needed] An Alaskan husky in the Iditarod will burn about 11,000 calories each day; on a body-weight basis this rate of caloric burn is eight times that of a human Tour de France cyclist. Similarly the VO2 max (aerobic capacity) of a typical Iditarod dog is about 240 milligrams of oxygen per kilogram of body weight, which is about three times that of a human Olympic marathon runner.

Criticism from animal rights groups

Animal protection activists say that the Iditarod is not a commemoration of the 1925 serum delivery. The race was originally called the Iditarod Trail Seppala Memorial Race in honor of Leonhard Seppala. According to statements made by Dorothy Page, the media perpetuated the false notion that the race was established to honor the drivers and dogs who carried the serum.[9] Animal protection activists also say that the Iditarod is dog abuse, and therefore it is not an adventure or a test of human perseverance. They are also critical of the race because dogs have died and been injured during the race. The practice of tethering dogs on short chains, which is commonly used by mushers in their kennels, at checkpoints and dog drops, is also criticized. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals spokesperson Jennifer O'Connor says, "We're totally opposed to the race for the cruelty issues associated with it". The ASPCA said, "General concerns arise whenever intense competition results in dogs being pushed beyond their endurance or capabilities," according to Vice President Stephen Zawistowski. Dr. Paula Kislak, President of the Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights, who practices veterinary medicine in California, has been very critical of the care the dogs receive.

On May 18, 2007, the Iditarod Trail Committee Board of Directors announced that they had suspended Ramy Brooks for abusing his sled dogs. The suspension is for the 2008 and 2009 races, and following that Brooks would be on probation for 3 years.

Records and awards

Dick Wilmarth won the first race in the year 1973, in 20 days, 0 hours, 49 minutes, and 41 seconds. The fastest winning time is Martin Buser's 2002 finish, in 8 days, 22 hours, 46 minutes, and 2 seconds. The closest finish was the 1978 victory by Dick Mackey. The win is controversial, because while the nose of his lead dog crossed the finish line one second ahead of Rick Swenson's lead dog, Swenson's body crossed the finish line first.

The first musher to win four races was Rick Swenson, in 1982. In 1991 he became the only person to win five times, and the only musher to win the race in three different decades. Susan Butcher, Doug Swingley, Martin Buser and Jeff King are the only other four-time winners.

Mary Shields was the first woman to complete the race, in 1974. In 1985 Libby Riddles was the only musher to brave a blizzard, becoming the first woman to win the race. She was featured in Vogue, and named the Professional Sportswoman of the Year by the Women's Sports Foundation. Susan Butcher withdrew from the same race after two of her dogs were killed by a moose, but became the second woman to win the race the next year, and subsequently won three of the next four races. Butcher was the second musher to win four races, and the only musher to finish in either first or second place for five straight years.

Doug Swingley of Montana was the first non-Alaskan to win the race, in 1995. Mushers from 14 countries have competed in the Iditarod races, and in 1992 Martin Buser—Swiss, but a resident of Alaska since 1979—was the first foreigner to win the race. Buser became a naturalized U.S. citizen in a ceremony under the Burled Arch in Nome following the 2002 race. The Norwegian Robert Sørlie was the first foreigner not resident in the United States to win the race in 2003.

In 2007 Lance Mackey became the first musher to win both the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod in the same year; a feat he repeated in 2008. Mackey also joined his father and brother, Dick and Rick Mackey as an Iditarod champion. All three Mackeys raced with the bib number 13, and coincidentally all won their respective titles on their sixth try.

The "Golden Harness" is most frequently given to the lead dog or dogs of the winning team. However, it is decided by a vote of the mushers, and in 2008 was given to Babe, the lead dog of Ramey Smyth, the 3rd place finisher. Babe was almost 11 years old when she finished the race, and it was her ninth Iditarod. The "Rookie of the Year" award is given to the musher who places the best among those finishing their first Iditarod. A red lantern signifying perseverance is awarded to the last musher to cross the finish line. The size of the purse determines how many mushers receive cash prizes. The first place winner also receives a new pickup truck.