The Iditarod Alphabet 2017
R is for Red Lantern

The Red Lantern Award is given to the last musher to reach Nome.  This award is given to honor the perseverance of the musher and their team.  First Red Lantern Award winner was John Schultz with a finishing time of 32 days, 5 hours, 9 minutes, and 1 second.  In 2016 Mary Helwig received the award when her team made it to Nome in 13 days, 8 hours, 51 minutes, and 30 seconds.    

R is for Red Lantern

Many teams are into Ruby, and Dallas and Wade are finishing up the last of their 24 hours layovers.  In the last few hours the Anna and Kristy Berington, Alan Moore, and Laura Neese have made their way to the checkpoint.  The consensus is that is it COLD out of the trail, so the mushers are excited to get into a warm checkpoint!  

It is a big strategy game now… mushers talking about where to take their 8 hour rest and 24 hour rest.  They are also looking at the stats to see how fast other teams are running and where they are taking their rests.  Over the next few days once the differentials are all in place, we will see who the front runners will be. 

My morning in Ruby was cut short, and I hopped on a flight to Galena.  As soon as I arrived at the checkpoint I headed up to the school where I received the most gracious welcome from Mrs. Koontz’s 2^nd/3^rd/4^th grade class.  We spent the afternoon chatting, and then we headed to the gym to play volleyball with a few of the high schoolers.  

The school has off tomorrow (Friday), and many of the students plan on heading down to the checkpoint to see all the mushers come in.  Mrs. Koontz’s class are each following their own musher, and participating in a school wide IditaRead program.  Their class is currently in the lead, and they are very proud of it.  Your students could also participate in an IditaRead program and read their way to Nome.  Check out the resources here.