What does the word 'Iditarod' mean?
Explain the reason why it started in the first place (and when).
Why is Joe Reddington, Sr. considered the 'Father of the Iditarod'?
Why does the race alternate between a northern route and a southern route every year?
What is the 'Red Lantern' award?
Who are some of the more notable past champions of the Iditarod? Were there any multiple winners?
Try out the iditarod.com site for your research and don't forget to add any facts we'll find interesting!
HAPPY TRAILS!
The Iditarod Sled Dog Race dates back to the Serum Run, when Nome needed medicine, and Anchorage had it. But the trains could only take them so far because there was so much snow. They needed to use dogsleds. They made it to Nome and saved many lives. But that wasn’t the Iditarod we know now.
ReplyDeleteThe Iditarod was started in 1973 by Joe Redington Sr. who, when dog racing was fading, and snowmobiles were appearing, wanted to remind people of dog-sledding and created the race. He ran the race 19 times, and once when he was 80 years old!
Iditarod means “clear water” in the language of the Shagelik tribe. Iditarod is also an abandoned mining town. There are two routes, the north and the south, because the villages along the Iditarod were being overused by the race running by, so Iditarod is the halfway point every other year.
There are many notable mushers. Martin Buser raced the fastest time, and Rick Swenson won 5 times, the most ever. In 1978, Dick Mackey beat Rick Swenson by one second.
Don’t worry if you come in last, you’ll still get The Red Lantern award. The best lead dog is awarded the Golden Harness Award, and everyone who finishes is given an official Finishers Belt Buckle. The best first-timer of the Iditarod is awarded the Rookie of the Year prize. Even if you don’t come in first, it’s still possible to get an award.
The Iditarod has an amazing history, and breathtaking adventures will continue to happen.
Over 60 years ago a man named Joe Redington drove into Alaska, he had grown up in the depression, walking around homeless and motherless, and had tried many jobs. He had been a bush pilot, a coal miner, a big-game guide, and a commercial fisherman. After crossing the border, he stopped at a gas station, and the attendant gave him a little present, a puppy! It was like an omen for things to come. Redington bought property in Knik, right next to the Iditarod Trail! It was overgrown and scarcely-used though. Redington started collecting sled dogs, and soon had over 200 dogs! He started to notice more and more snow machines, and less and less dog teams, and he decided to do something about it, so he started cleaning up the trail, and lobbying for it to be turned into a historic trail. In 1966, about 10 years after he started his campaign, a woman named Dorothy Page approached him with the idea of an Iditarod race! “Of course!” he responded. The Iditarod has come along way since then, with almost 80 mushers competing, compared to 55 in 1973, the year it started. The Iditarod was an immediate success, in 1979, it was deemed a Historic Trail by the National Historic Trail System. Soon there were awards of all kinds, but one special one is the “Red Lantern” Award, awarded to the last place finisher in every Iditarod race. The last place finishers then get to put out the Red Lantern, which signifies the end of the race. In 1998, a man named Brad Pozarnsky, finished last, even though he would have won the nine previous races with his time. He is, to this day, the fastest last place finisher ever. Some notable past champions are, Rick Swensen who won the race five times, Susan Butcher, who won the race four times, and Martin Buser, who holds the record for fastest time to finish, with 8 days, 22 hours, 46 minutes, and 2 seconds. The Iditarod has grown a lot since one mans dream to save sled dog racing from extinction, and it will only keep on growing, year after year.
ReplyDeleteIt was the winter of 1925 as diphtheria struck Nome, Alaska. The only way to get the transport the medicine to Nome was to go by sleds, pulled by dogs. They successfully got the medicine back to Nome in time. As time passed, snowmobiles and airplanes began to appear and dog sleds started disappearing. A man called Joe Redington, also known as the Father of the Iditarod, worked together with a group of mushers to start a race that followed the old Iditarod trail. Now, every year, the famous Iditarod starts on the first Saturday of March and over 60 people are entered. Do you know what the word, Iditarod means? It was believed to come from Athabasken Indian word pronounced Hi-dit-a-rod and means a far off place. The towns in Alaska don’t like the big crowds and they don’t want to wear down the trail so on even years like 2000, they go on the northern route, and on odd years like 2009, they go on the southern route. Did you know that Rick Swenson is the only five-time winner? Susan Butcher won four races and is the only one to win the race 3 times in a row. The red lantern is lit at the finish line in Nome. It burns day and night until the last musher finishes and he gets the Red Lantern award. The Iditarod continues to be a popular race in Alaska, thanks to Joe.
ReplyDeleteFrom the gold rush to the serum run all the way up to the Iditarod, Alaskan history is amazing.
ReplyDeleteIt all started in 1925 the Serum run to Nome. A terrible disease struck out and its name was Diphtheria and it was threatening the small town of Nome and all the people living in it. A 20-pound cylinder of serum was sent by train and at midnight it was sent along by the first of 20 mushers.
The name Iditarod comes from an old Alaskan word meaning far distant place. The Iditarod dog race started in 1973 as an event to put mushers and their teams to the limits. The award that goes to the person in last place is the Red Lantern award where the person who came in last place gets to race down the streets hold up a red lantern. Joe Redington (The Father of Iditarod) sponsored the Iditarod in 1967 to remember the dogs, he even did the Iditarod when he was eighty. That goes to show you’re never too old to do the Iditarod!
Sled dogs were being used less, planes were taking over and dogs were becoming just pets. But one man named Joe Redington Sr. didn’t like the idea of no more sled dogs, he thought that dogs should do what they were made to do and that is to pull sleds. Joe Redington had an idea, he remembered the famous Serum Run when the people of Nome had a horrible outbreak of diseases and they had to race from Nome to Anchorage and back to get the serum. Joe figured if they could do it back then, we could do it now. He planned to make a race from Nome to Anchorage to remember the Serum Run and also hopefully bring sled dog racing back. Joe’s dream finally came true in 1973 the first year of the great Iditarod. Iditarod is the checkpoint right in the middle of the race originally it was Hidehood meaning ‘distant place’ in the Inglak native language. Joe finished in the top five in 1988 at the age of 71 years old. He was most famous for promoting the race. Every year the Iditarod alternates routes from northern and southern because the northern route was getting too much traffic. Getting an award for coming in last for something or being the worst may not be that great for most people, but in the Iditarod the Red Lantern award is a great honor. It is given to the contestant who comes in last, and they get to blow it out to officially end the race. It originally came from when they used to hang kerosene lamps at every roadhouse like a beacon. The Iditarod is hard to just finish but to finish in 8 days 22 hours 46 minutes and 2 seconds is very impressing and almost impossible but that is just what Martin Buser did. The Iditarod has a rich history and some great stories, and that makes it one if the worlds greatest races.
ReplyDeleteIf you’re in the Iditarod, and you see a red lantern coming out to meet you when you reach Nome, you should know that you are dead last. This is the Red Lantern award. It started as a joke.
ReplyDeleteIf you miss that, as you ride into Nome a lantern will go out when you cross the finish line. This is the Widow’s Lamp, and it signifies that the last musher has crossed the line and the race is officially over for that year. It came from the old days, when sled dogs were used to transport things. When a musher was approaching a “checkpoint”, a lantern would be lit in the window of a house. This helped mushers find their way, and it also let the authorities know where there was a musher on the trail. If the lantern stayed lit for a long time, then a rescue party would be sent out to see if anything had happened.
The name “iditarod” means, in the native tongue, “distant place”. It was originally pronounced “hidehod” or “haiditarod”, but over time it morphed to the version we know today.
The Iditarod route alternates because of traffic problems. In the beginning, only the north route was used, but they started alternating because the north got too much traffic, and the south too little.
The Iditarod started in 1973 as a remembrance to the Serum Run, when an awful plague of diphtheria raged through the town of Nome. The closest antidote was in Anchorage, Alaska, and the trains couldn’t make it all the way. So, they sent out sled dog teams to bring the serum, or the antidote, to Nome. The weather was harsh and the wind was howling, but they got through to Nome and saved the town. In a way, the Iditarod is a reminder of the brave sled dogs that brought the serum to Nome.
-S7
I bet you don’t know much about the Iditarod, and not many people do. The Iditarod began when a horrible sickness called Diphtheria hit a Nome. People in Nome with Diphtheria needed serum but there wasn’t any in their town. Mushers had to travel long distances to get to Nome with only one way to get there, dog sledding. Once the serum run was over some people wanted to keep the dog sledding spirit alive. So the Iditarod began to honor the people and dogs that raced serum to Nome. One of the biggest helpers in the Iditarod is Joe Redington. We consider him as the father of Iditarod. He worked hard to get the very first Iditarod started and keep it going the following years. A lot of people believe that the word Iditarod comes from an Athabaskan word pronounced “Hi-Dit-A-Rod” meaning a distance of a far off place. Even if you are last in the Iditarod they still give an award, The Red Lantern Award. It is lighted at the finish line and burns bright until the last musher crosses the line and that last musher gets to extinguish the lantern. There are many champions of the Iditarod but Rick Swenson, Libby Riddles, Susan Bather, and Jeff King are the most known ones. Libby Riddles was the first woman ever to win the Iditarod. Rick Swenson won 5 times! Some of the mushers that enter win multiple times. Every year the Iditarod trail switches with northern and southern routes. They switch because the villages were too tired of the big crowds that come to watch the race and for over use of the trail. Be sure to watch the Iditarod it begins on the first Saturday of March.
ReplyDeleteYou can’t compare it to anything else, a race that has a story through dogs. With the hardest but greatest terrain Alaska has to offer, it is the last great race in the world.
ReplyDeleteThe history of the Iditarod goes back to 1925 when people in Nome, Alaska were dieing because of an illness called Diphtheria. But the people in Anchorage had the cure for this illness. So they set out a relay of dog teams to get to Nome with the medicine through 600 miles of Alaska and it saved many lives.
The Iditarod race was born from a man named Joe Redington, also known as the Father of the Iditarod. He thought since dogs were being replaced by snowmobiles and the dogs weren’t being used anymore people should make a race. The dogs could work again and in commemoration of the people from the Serum Run. So Joe worked very hard getting sponsors for the race, but finally he got enough in 1973 and the Iditarod was born.
Three interesting facts about the Iditarod are that the word Iditarod means clear-water. The Shageluk tribe named it, because they were river Indians. Another really great fact is that in 1978 Dick Mackey beat Rick Swenson by one second, this is one of the biggest all time records. One last thing you wouldn’t know about is that the Iditarod has an award for last place. This award is named the Red Lantern Award because it is lit at the beginning of the race and goes out when the last person finishes. So tighten your parka fasten your sled, because you might be the one to race in the famous Iditarod.
Since 1973 Dog sled racing has taken place on the Iditarod trail. Every 1st Saturday in March mushers and there dogs leave Anchorage. Have you ever wondered what these mushers would get if they won? Or why this race started? Originally the Iditarod trail was used for gold mining. But around 1973 gold mining started to slack off and the use of the Iditarod trail was forgotten. As all this was happening a man named Joe Reddington, Sr arrived in Alaska he knew that people were forgetting the old ways of life and were forgetting that dogs were made to pull sleds. He knew something had to be done. He met with a woman named Dorothy. G. Page. Together they worked together and on the 1st Saturday in March of 1973 they held the first Iditarod race. These two people earned their names as mother and father of the Iditarod. Today they are still honored for their courage of bringing the old ways of life back.
ReplyDeleteOriginally the race was supposed to go from Anchorage to the Ghost town of Iditarod, but instead it went 1,049 miles to Nome. On the Iditarod trail there are two routes one for the odd year and one for the even years. The reason for alternating trails is to reduce the impact the race and its fans has on the towns. Checkpoints are where the musher and his team will stop, rest and eat or a vet will just check the dogs. All though mushers don’t have to stop at every checkpoint they do have to stop once for 24 hours and twice for 8 hours. The northern route has 27 checkpoints, and the southern route has 26 checkpoints.
Libby Riddle was the first woman ever to win the Iditarod in 1985. But one woman followed in her path, her name was Susan Butcher, Manely who won three years in a row in 1986-1988 and then she won again in 1990. Susan Manely is the only person ever to win three times in a row. Sadly 1990 was the last time a woman has won the Iditarod. If you were to win the Iditarod like these women you would be awarded $50,000 and last year you would have won a truck. But you would also be awarded if you came in dead last. You would be awarded the red lantern. A red lantern is lit at the start of the race and blown out by the person who comes in dead last. For a race that started as the serum run, a run to get a diphtheria vaccine from anchorage to Nome it is quite a race.
Do you know all about the Iditarod’s amazing history?
ReplyDeleteWell sit tight in you seat because you’re about to learn it all!
Did you know that German, Spanish, Japanese, British, and American film crews all come just to watch the Iditarod! Musher’s from all lifestyles come to ride the great race, including local or away fisherman, strict lawyers, country hunters, medical doctors, miners, artists, and much more! The Iditarod was originally named by the Athabascan Alaskan Indians, who named their inland hunting area Haididitarod (far off place). But later, gold miners came and renamed the hunting area, Iditarod. What helped the musher’s and team ride through the dark and stormy night, and more importantly informs the a team of dogs is somewhere on the trail? It’s the helpful, powerful, Red lantern. The red Lantern was hung and lit by a roadhouse in the middle of the Musher’s destinations; the lamp was not extinguished (put out) until the musher safely reached the next stop. Do you know the race that started it all? Were incredibly brave dogs and musher’s helped in a great relay for medicine for the sick in Nome, Alaska. How many people and dogs worked in the race? Twenty powerful musher’s and one hundred and fifty wonderful dogs, saved the great city of Nome from a great loss of people. The two best-known lead dogs are Togo and Balto, who both pushed themselves hard, including their team. The Iditarod’s great history is treasured and remembered, for each musher’s and dogs bravery and strength. This was just some of the information about the Iditarod’s amazing past.
Could you imagine being in a sled dog race for 9 days? I sure couldn’t. If you could then read on to find out the history of the very popular sled dog race in Alaska, the Iditarod. Also you can read about the awards that to you may get for doing it.
ReplyDeleteThe Iditarod sled dog race started in 1973 on the first Saturday in March. It all started when people were using snowmobiles to deliver things from place to place. But then someone named Joe Redington came along and decided that the people should use the dogs for a better perpose so he said they should use sled dogs and sleds instead of snowmobiles. So then it became the Iditarod. If you do it these are just two of the many awards you might get. If you win you get 50,000 dollars. If you come in last you get an award too. It is called the Red Lantern Award. The award is hung at the end of the race outside the roadhouse. It was originally made to help the mushers find their destination. But then it turned into an award for the last team to finish the race. The fastest time was when someone named Martin Buser got 8 days 22 hours, 46 minutes, and 2 seconds. One more cool fact is that a musher named Rick Swenson won the Iditarod five times.
~S5
The Iditarod started because in 1925 the children of Nome were getting sick from a deadly disease called diphtheria. They needed Serum the only medicine that could cure it. A bunch of dog teams relay raced across Alaska to bring the medicine to Nome. They used an old mail route, the Iditarod trail. There were 48 years later a man named Joe Reddington and looked back and knew that people were forgetting about that historic event. So He worked on it and started a race on that same Iditarod trail. He worked and worked until he could raise enough money for a big race with a big reward for winning as Redington once stated “ I wanted the biggest dog race in Alaska, and the best way to do that was to offer the biggest purse”. Today we call him the father of the Iditarod. In the first Iditarod there were 55 musher’s, two from Massachusetts, but unfortunately only 22 finished. One of them, being the winner Dick Wilmarth who finished in 20 days, 00 hours, 49 minutes and 41 seconds. The red lantern award is a special end of race event. The red lantern is hung over the finish line and all the racers cross under it. Finally, for the last racer that comes through, they take the lantern down and the last place racer blows it out to declare the race over. That is the way they have ended the Iditarod since 1986.
ReplyDeleteSince 1973 people have been coming from all over the world to take place in an amazing race, the Iditarod. Joe Reddington and Dorthy Page were the founders of the Iditarod. Reddington wanted the dogs and he wanted the old days to be remembered so he made the Iditarod happen. That is why he is the father of the Iditarod. The word Iditarod comes from the Atnabascan Indian tribe. They called their hunting grounds the Haiditarod. And when the Iditarod was made it was shortened to Iditarod.
ReplyDeleteFrom 1973 to now there has got to be a lot of victories and even multiple winners. One multiple winner was Jeff King. He has won three times. His last win being in 1998. Jeff King’s best time was 9 days and 5 hours for winning three times he must be a pretty rich man. But if you lose you also get an award. You get what is called the red lantern award. The red lantern award all started when someone light a red kerosene lamp out side of their cabin and it helped the musher get back on his trail. Even know that man was the last one to finish the race he still made a historical award.
The Iditarod has two trails one is called the northern trail and the other is called the southern trail. At first the Iditarod only was the northern trail but as the Iditarod went on for years they had to make another trail because the northern trail was getting too much traffic and the towns south of the trail didn’t get enough so they changed it so the routes would alternate every year so the southern trail would go on odd years and the northern trail would go on even years. The Iditarod starts on the first Saturday in March so be prepared.
-s15
The Iditarod sled dog race has lots of history to it. It started in 1973 as a tradition to keep sled dog racing going. They named the race the Iditarod, which means clear water or distant place. In the Iditarod there are two different routes a southern route and a northern route. They have two routes so one place doesn’t get damage from the people coming in every year. If you lose the race you get the red lantern. The red lantern award started out as a joke and it is also known as widow’s lamp but they are not the same thing. The red lantern is light at the beginning of the race for the last place winner to blow it out. Speaking of places in the Iditarod first place is most important. There have been lots of multiple winners in the Iditarod. For example Doug Swingley is one of them. As you can see the Iditarod has many things to it and there must be a lot of pressure.
ReplyDeleteDear S5
ReplyDeleteI thought your post was really very good. You did a lot of extra cool facts. I liked you opening sentence. You did a really good job researching, I found out so stuff that I didn't know already. One helpful hint be a have a bigger range of facts. Keep up the good work
~S8
Dear s12,
ReplyDeleteI like your opening it sucked me in and made me want to keep reading. I also liked all the facts you had about the Iditarods past and the prizes that are giving out. one thing you could improve on is making your post a
little bit shorter.
s4, I like your paragraph. You ad a lot of detail and its very interesting. I especially like the ending sentence. I think you should have explained what happens if you have Diphtheria. Other than that I think it is a good paragraph.
ReplyDelete~s5
S11
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog entry. You explained the history of the Iditarod without putting too much information and making the reader bored. I had no idea the red lantern award started as a joke. Thats interesting. a helpful hint may be to put in some more information about how the Iditarod started and who helped it start.
S7
ReplyDeleteThat was a really great, well written paragraph.
I like how you really described the weather, and used describing words to really explain what a word meant. You also had a very catchy beginning, and it was good how you said, 'you're dead last'. That was a really interesting and funny paragraph
from,
S3
Dear S 15, you had lots of information that was very good. I don't think you have enough info on how Joe R. got the race going. You were very good at describing the red lantern award though. -S 17
ReplyDeleteDear S9,
ReplyDeleteI liked how included the weight of the Serum, i never knew it was so heavy! I liked how you found the meaning of the word "Iditarod", because i could never find it. Mostly a good entry, but maybe a little short.
To S18,
ReplyDeleteI like how you made your paragraph interesting and you didn't list things. I also liked the ending because of the descriptive words. I think your paragraph was good but you should just make the part about the winners a little bit more interesting.
S8 ~
ReplyDeleteI liked how you pulled in some famous names of past Iditarod winners and how you talked about the Red Lantern Award but you may want to proof read a bit more for example you wrote Diphtheria hit a Nome. But apart from not proof reading it was very good.
~S9
S17,
ReplyDeleteYour paragraph was pretty good. I like how you got a lot of information on Joe Redington and the Serum Run. You also got a quote, which is excellent. You should proofread and check more, and an ending sentence would make it even better. All in all, your paragraph was good.
Dear s13,
ReplyDeleteI liked your beginning because is caught my attention and I wanted to keep reading. The very beginning sentence of the red lantern award was a bit confusing. I also liked the part about Joe Reddington because it was well researched.
~s15
S10,
ReplyDeleteyou put a lot of detail about Joe Redingtonin the paragraph witch showed a lot about him. One thing that you didn't mention was what the word Iditarod meant. I also liked how you put in lots of notable mushers. Your paragraph was very long and good.
Dear s3,
ReplyDeleteI thought it was a well written paragraph, It was very good because you gave a lot of information. I also liked you beginning, but just try to not ask the reader to many questions. Other than that it was very good. Great job!