Good Morning Boys and Girls, The Iditarod starts in one week. Mushers are making the final preparations for their great adventure. While they are doing that, another group of mushers are preparing for a race this weekend. They are the Junior Iditarod mushers and they will be participating in the Junior Iditarod. This year eleven young mushers will be participating in the race. The Junior Iditarod is an approximately 150 mile race for mushers aged 14-17. A race for kids- how cool is that? The race starts and ends in the Wasilla area. There is a mandatory 10 hour break at the halfway point. The race rules are similar to that of the Iditarod. All mushers have mandatory equipment that must be in their sleds at all times. Mushers must start with no less than 7 dogs and no more than 10 dogs. Teams must finish with 5 or more dogs. There’s even a food drop. This is a great way for young mushers to prepare for the Iditarod. While the Junior Iditarod starts tomorrow, today is a big day for the teams. This morning all teams will have their pre-race Veterinary Check. Also today is the Mandatory Mushers Meeting. After the race finishes on Sunday there will be an awards banquet. What an experience for these young mushers. Don’t you wish you were there? I sure do. I’d love to pull one of those sleds. Check back over the weekend. I will be reporting and posting pictures of the race. See you on the trail, Gypsy

The above picture was taken at the 2014 Junior Iditarod by Mike Kenney.