Tails from the Trail

Junior Iditarod

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the 43rd Junior Iditarod.  The Junior Iditarod is a 150-mile race for young mushers ages 14-17.  The race will start at Knik River and run to Yentna Station, where the mushers will take a ten-hour stop.  Afterwhich they will head to the finish at the Willow Community Center.

In preparation for the race tomorrow, today at Iditarod Headquarters was the Veterinarian checks.  I had the pleasure of meeting head veterinarian, Dr. Phil Meyer, and watch as he checked Calvin Daugherty, Nicolas Sousa, and Bjorn Keller’s dogs. Each dog is carefully checked for trail readiness.

A Tribute to Perseverance:

What other duties do the Red Lantern recipients have?  Extinguishing the Widows Lantern.  The Widows Lamp is lit in Nome on the day of the Iditarod restart in Willow, this year March 8th. The lamp is hung on the Burled Arch and stays illuminated until the last musher crosses the finish line.  This tradition comes from the time of the Gold Rush when sled dog teams would haul freight and deliver mail.  Along the trail, houses would light a lamp to help guide the mushers along their way.  Another use was to signal that mushers had safely reached their destination. When the light was extinguished, no one was out on the trail. This lamp holds the same meaning today.  As the last musher pulls into Nome and the light is extinguished, we know that all the mushers have made it safely to the end of the Iditarod Trail.

Other than Cindy Abbott, what other musher received the Red Lantern twice in their mushing career? Stay tuned….

Teachers

Find out more about the Jr Iditarod and the 2020 Jr Iditarod rules by following these links.

Jr Iditarod website

Jr Iditarod 2020 Rules