mush!
Posted on 03/15/2011 10:19:02 PM PDT by smokingfrog
John Baker won the storied Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in record time on Tuesday while becoming the first Alaska Native champion since 1976.
He shattered the course record by three hours, finishing the 1,100-mile race in eight days, 19 hours and 46 minutes. The previous record had been set in 2002 by four-time champion Martin Buser.
Driving a team of 10 trotting dogs, Baker sledded along snow-covered Front Street in Nome, Alaska, as he approached the finish line marked by a polished, knotted wood arch.
He was greeted by drummers and dancers from his Inupiat tribe, and a large crowd of relatives and supporters from his home town of Kotzebue, located about 180 miles north of Nome.
"Running a team like this, there's nothing better," Baker, 48, said at the finish line. "This is the way life is supposed to be."
The Iditarod commemorates a 1925 rescue mission that sent diphtheria serum to Nome by sled-dog relay.
Aside from being the first Alaska Native to win the race since 1976, Baker is the event's first Inupiat victor.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
mush!
Fantastic!
Wow! What a race!
Did Todd Palin compete in the race?
I thought he was a native Alaskan and he has won a few times.
Todd Palin competes in the Ironman not the Iditarod. Ironman is with snow machines, Iditarod is with sled dogs I believe.
Fierce Allegiance, you are hereby pinged. (Is my memory good or WHAT!)
Irondog! Is the race Todd runs. Congrats to this winner. One tough race.
You are thinking of the Iron Dog race, on snow mobiles (snow machines as they say in Alaska).
The Iditarod is a sled dog race.
D’oh! Thanks...it was late and I should not have responded. Those “I” words!
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