Iditarod Facts and Figures

IDITAROD FACTS AND FIGURES

Start Date:
The first Saturday in March each year

Entry Fee:
$1,750

Prize Money:
$400,000 ($50,000 to first place)

First Race:
Left Anchorage March 3, 1973. Won by Dick Wilmarth in just over 20 days.

Shortest Completed Time:
9 days, 2 hours, 42 minutes and 19 seconds in 1995 by Doug Swingley.

Closest Finish:
1978 -- after two weeks on the trail, Dick Mackey beat Rick Swenson by only one second!

Distance:
1,049 is a symbolic figure. (A thousand mile race in the 49th State.) The actual milage is closer to 1,200 miles, depending upon the route taken. The Iditarod is the longest dog sled race in the world.

Checkpoints:
There are over 20 checkpoints along the trail where mushers must sign in and where each musher's 2,500 pounds of dog food has been distributed. A veterinarian is stationed at each checkpoint to provide care to the dogs.

Age Range of Mushers:
18 to 81 years

Possible Temperature Extremes During Race:
+45 ° F to -60 ° F

Iditarod Highlights

* There are 27 checkpoints, the first in Anchorage, the last in Nome.

* There are two routes, the Northern and the Southern. The trail alternates each year.

* The teams average 15 dogs in size, which means that more than 1,000 dogs leave Anchorage for Nome each year.

* The most mushers to finish the race was 63 in 1992.

* Although most of the competing mushers are Alaskans, many other states have been represented in the Iditarod, including New York, Montana, Ohio, Alabama, Texas and California.

* These countries have been represented in the race: Canada, Switzerland, Norway, Great Britain, New Zealand, Russia, Japan and Italy.

* Iditarod has been covered by CBS, ABC, NBC, BBC, the Spanish, Canadian, German and Japanese Media.

Information courtesy of Sandra and Harry Choron.

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