Imagine traveling through the wilderness in Alaska. Just you and a team of dogs, who are trotting along as happy as can be in the below-freezing temperatures. You are watching for wild animals, hoping a moose bull doesn’t come out to attack you or your beloved dogs. Watching each dog to make sure they are all doing ok. You have ice frozen on your face as you ride along behind your team. You’ve only slept for about 4 hours in the last 24 hour period, and know that you have several more days before getting much more sleep than that. All of this is to reach a small city named Nome before the other roughly 50 teams who are racing you to the finish line. Putting those 1,000+ miles behind you, one mile at a time.
This is the Iditarod Race.
For the last few years, I have spent some time with my children covering the Last Great Race in Alaska. There is plenty to do before the race begins, which is why I want to get this post out there now. We have less than 50 days until the start of the race, which always begins the first weekend in March. I can’t wait!!!
Being from Texas, the entire concept of a dog sled race is foreign to me, so I began at the bottom up as best as I could. The race trail, the dogs, their positions on the line, the different diets and needs of both mushers and dogs required during the race, the wild animals that could change how things go in an instant, the impact the weather has on it…it all impacts how the race goes every year making each year unique. I hope these resources help you if you decide to cover this dangerous race as well!
Now enough chit-chat! Let’s jump right in! I will add more if I come across any others I would recommend.
Dog Sled Racing History
Things to do before the race
Preparing for the race begins many months before the actual race for mushers and their teams, but for classrooms and homeschoolers, it does as well.
Trail Mail: One of the most exciting parts (for me) on involvement the Iditarod offers is Trail Mail. This is mail they carry from classrooms/homeschooling family around the world down the trail with the mushers racing in honor of the original trails that used dogs to carry mail. Many of those trails are included in the Iditarod routes.
In the Fall, the Iditarod will put a notice out for children to submit artwork to be on the cover of the envelopes for the next race. They will narrow them down to the top 3 winners, and show the top 10 finalists as well. For the 2024 race, they opened the competition up on September 1, 2023 so look out around the same time to see if the contest is open yet. Here are this race’s guidelines to give you an idea of what they look like: https://iditarod.com/edu/2024-trail-mail-contest-new-guidelines/
Here are the winners for the 2024 race, as it gives a great example of what they’re looking for. These kids are so talented! https://iditarod.com/edu/2024-education-trail-mail-design-winner-announcement/
In December of 2023 they opened up signups for classrooms/homeschooling families to sign up for your own trail mail to travel down the trail this year. It does have a small fee involved ($10 this year but could change from year to year). They do limit how many can sign up. This year’s trail mail list is full but keep an eye out for next year’s!
Donate blankets: Your family/homeschooling group can make blankets for returned dogs! Here is an opportunity that needs some advanced planning. You can sign up to donate blankets to the Iditarod to use for dogs that are returned during the race both at the checkpoints and at the start until they are picked up to go home. Instructions are in the post, along with the link to sign up for 2024, though that deadline is probably too close to make it this year. Keep an eye out next year for this opportunity around the end of November 2024! They do it every year. https://iditarod.com/edu/warm-hearts-make-warm-dogs-2024/
Iditarod Postcard Challenge: In September of 2023 they put out a notice that they were hoping to get postcards for every state to send to each other as a learning opportunity. The larger states fill up quickly so you have to be quick to respond to sign your state up. Look for it around September on the Iditarod website for next year’s race! https://iditarod.com/edu/iditarod-postcard-challenge/
Iditarod EDU: https://iditarod.com/edu/
This is a part of the Iditarod’s official website that has such a wealth of information! They have lessons you can teach that other teachers around the country have put together and shared. They also have information you can use to do your own lessons. The Museum section has a lot of history to learn the details behind this race that could be good to know as you introduce the race to your children.
Follow other races: Since covering the Iditarod with my kids 2 years ago, I have become a follower of other dog sled races and am just in awe of the entire sport. It can be hard to follow along with remote races in Alaska from my home in Texas but the internet makes things so much easier. Here are some races and ways to follow along with these as best as I know how to. Do check their social media pages for live coverage as they put it out.
Knik 200 Race – https://www.kniktrailblazers.org/knik-200-race.html
Copper Basin 300 Race – https://www.cb300.com/
Kuskokwim 300 Race – https://www.k300.org/
Yukon Quest Alaska – This race used to be another 1,000 mile race but a few years ago the Alaska side and Canadian side split, creating 2 different races that were each shorter in length. This is still a challenging race used as training or qualifying for the Iditarod. https://yukonquestalaska.com/
Yukon Quest – The Canadian side of the Yukon Quest. https://yukonquest.com/
Kale Casey Live covers many of these races and is such a great resource for coverage of the races outside of the Iditarod (and don’t forget to buy him a coffee for all the hours he spends following the races!) – https://www.facebook.com/kalecaseylive
Iditarod Race Coverage & Fun Extras
The Iditarod Insider is the best coverage you will be able to get of the Iditarod race itself. The media team of the Iditarod prohibits very good coverage by anyone else so it is definitely worth it to look into becoming an Insider. There is a limited free version for some coverage, but you have to watch live and you don’t get the trackers to follow. If you do not want to pay for the better level, you can still get amazing updates from people in the Facebook Group Iditarod 2024-Fan Page. It’s a great group to get info on the individual mushers and their teams, and for as good of coverage for free as you can find for the Iditarod I have found.
The Iditarod’s store on their website has some great learning tools. I highly recommend ordering a race guide for the current race and the large paper map. I also like to order some little souvenirs for my kids like pencils. I do have 4 dog booties as well so the kids can see what those look like. This year I have ordered a stuffed husky to be our Iditarod mascot, that we can put the booties on just for fun. We’ll see what the kids name him when he arrives!
Toni Reitter’s blog is such a wealth of knowledge for dog sled races! (She does cover other races like the ones mentioned above so you can check her site for info on those as well!) One of my favorite resources Toni puts out is the list of all of the teams with their kennels and links to their websites and social media pages. This can be so helpful to see what dogs they have so you can understand more about the mushers and their teams. Plus, it gives you a direct link when available to the musher to follow them directly or learn more about them if you run across a favorite.
Tracking mushers – I have my children pick a musher (see list here for the 2024 list of mushers) and follow along with him/her for the entire race. Once the website has released the tracker forms for 2024 I’ll update this post, but I print one for each of my children. I also print a map of the current year’s trail, so the northern route this year. They must complete the time in, dogs in, time out, dogs out for each checkpoint along the trail. I also ask that they color in the map on for how far they have traveled, especially for the younger ones to see the distance. I just print the map from the Iditarod’s website.
If you want a fun fantasy mushing game I created for more fun tracking, you can find the free download and instructions at this link.
The Idita-Read program can be fun! The teacher creates reading goals for each student online through the Iditarod’s website. As the student completes these goals and the teacher approves them, the avatar moves along the Iditarod trail. Ideally, I think you’re racing the mushers but it’s fun to travel along the trail with the teams going at the same time. https://iditarod.com/edu/iditaread-digital-the-last-great-reading-race/
Musher Grams are so much fun! You can call in to Iditarod volunteers for a message for whichever musher you want and they will give it to the musher at the next checkpoint they can make it to that the musher will arrive at. It’s a great way to get involved by giving the racers and teams messages from all over the world during the race. The volunteers make it so easy and are very helpful. This post is from 4 years ago so check the number but it gives some info on Musher Grams: https://iditarod.com/send-a-musher-gram-to-a-musher/
Peace on Earth pizza in Unalakleet! This is fun to do as well. You can call before your musher gets to Unalakleet and order a pizza for them. The pizza place watches the trackers for them and delivers the pizza to your musher with a short note on the box if you want to leave one. It’s a bit pricey for pizza as it is Alaska, but another way to get involved personally in the race. The trail just after Unalakleet is challenging so it’s a nice moral booster. Call them at (907) 624-3373.
The 2024 Musher’s Banquet and bib draw will be February 29, 2024 this year. It is the Thursday before the race. More info if needed is here: https://iditarod.com/2024-iditarod-mushers-banquet/
The 2024 Finisher’s Banquet, where winners are recognized and awards presented, will take place on March 17, 2024. The last couple of years have been streamed live for free. This doesn’t guarantee they will this year but I’m hopeful they will.
Other Resources
Fantasy Mushing – covers several big races, including the Iditarod. It’s a fun thing to see how your “team” finishes.
Books – There are so many, but here are some I have and enjoy reading to my kids before and/or during the race:
- Storm Run by Libby Riddles
- Kiana’s Iditarod by Shelley Gill
- If You Were a Kid at the Iditarod by Josh Gregory
- Akiak by Robert J. Blake
Movies – Togo, 8 Below (I’m sure many others but I can’t think of any at the moment.)
Videos from Past Races
The Happy River Steps can be a challenge for the dogs and musher. Here is a video of Aliy Zirkle successfully going down them. This is in between Finger Lake and Rainy Pass. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bn0g-7sAT1o
Here is another short video of how hard the trail can be from the Iditarod. I think this may be from the Happy River Steps area, but I’m not sure. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt9waKEgwS8
Here is an example of how hard it can be to be pulled by such powerful forces of the athletes – the dogs! This ride is wild with Iditarod legend Jeff King and one of my favorite videos to watch of the Iditarod! This is in the Dalzell Gorge so best to watch as they go from Rainy Pass to Rohn. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAHa-6VkUQY
The Farewell Burn area is a rough part of the trail. Some years there is snow and some years there isn’t. Here are some short videos of it without snow. It’s about 30 miles of hard ground where the dogs want to go because they have dry ground and good traction but sleds are not made to go over dirt and trees. It beats the mushers up quite a bit and ruins the plastic on the bottom of the sled. Here are two short videos of the Burn without snow. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0T2_i6VafIk and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLrHDZKkoPM
Aliy Zirkle has wonderfully informational videos from packing her sled to trail cams during the race: https://www.youtube.com/@SPKDogLog
Dallas Seavey, 5-time Iditarod champ, showing what he packs into his drop bags for the race: https://www.facebook.com/DallasSeavey/videos/491710002333494/
Other Iditarod Trail Competitions
Jr. Iditarod Race: This race is for those not yet old enough for the full Iditarod race. It takes place before the full Iditarod and is a much shorter distance. It’s a great training opportunity for those aspiring to run the full race when they’re old enough. https://www.jriditarod.org/
Iditarod Trail Invitational: Did you know that there are people who bike, ski, and even walk the full Iditarod trail??? This race takes much longer than the more well-known sled dog race but they do pass each other along the trail and spend time at checkpoints with each other. The rules are different and in some ways harder than the sled dog teams. It is quite interesting, though! It takes about 4 weeks for the walkers to make the full trail. https://itialaska.com/
Suggested Key Points to Cover and Tips for Lessons
Iditarod History. Here is a short 2 minute video on the history of the trail.
Northern Route vs Southern Route and which is ran this year. This link also has the checkpoints listed, how far the distance is between the checkpoints, and if you click on the names, it describes the trail between them as well.
Awards that can be earned during the race, which are awarded at the awards banquet after the race. This link currently holds the 2023 winners, but it does explain what each award is for.
Ceremonial start vs official restart
Placement of dogs on the line and each position’s purpose. This post I found seems like a good resource for a short lesson on where the dogs go and the purpose of each position. Here is a video as well that shows a short run-down of the positions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io5gkkL8QwE
Combining the above lesson on the dog placement with a lesson on mushing terms is fun as well. My kids enjoyed then pretending to be a dog team. They held onto a jump rope, took turns being lead dog and musher, and called each other around the house using mushing terms. This post on the Iditarod’s website has a great list of terms used in the mushing world.
Dangers that can be encountered on the trail (animals, overflow, warm weather and how it affects the dogs and food, etc.)
Bags and items for the checkpoints (how many bags allowed, limitations on what’s in them, packing and planning, etc.)
What types of dogs are used and what’s allowed. After someone put poodles on their team, they specified which dogs are allowed in the race.