News and Information
There’s nothing better than hands-on real-life experiences for learning. Thanks to musher and educator Tim Vandermeuelen, Symposium participants went to work making necklines and constructing a doghouse. Tim handed out pre-cut and marked lengths of braided nylon and the indispensible fid to everyone interested then the fun began – push the fid through the rope …
As regular as the leaves change color and days shorten in fall, mushers and teachers gather in Curtis, Michigan for the Musher Symposium and Teacher Conference organized by the owners of Nature’s Kennel, Ed & Tasha Stielstra. Brent Sass, keynote presenter from Eureka, Alaska was complimented by a host of other experts in the world …
It was a pleasant day with more clouds than sun as volunteers, mushers, and race fans gathered on the front lawn of Iditarod Headquarters to picnic and reminisce about the past race. At the same time in a tent just to the left of Balto’s statue, mushers were signing up, creating the first chapter of …
Jennifer Reiter has been selected as the Iditarod Teacher on the Trail™ for the 2014 Iditarod. Jen Reiter is a third grade teacher at Gilman School, an independent boys’ school in Baltimore, Maryland. She began her teaching career in 1993 in public schools and moved to the independent schools in 2000. She holds an undergraduate …
DeeDee Jonrowe came out to greet Jim Lanier at the burled arch today. It gave me an opportunity to congratulate her on placing in the top ten again and ask her a couple of questions about her 31st Iditarod. In her bright pink kusbuk with the huge Shell logo on the back DeeDee is rather …
There’s a coffee shop located in the McGrath B&B. It’s a favorite stop of many volunteers as they work in or pass through McGrath. Myself included. You can purchase a Mackey Mocha, Frappe, Smoothie, Latte, Breve, Americano or Tea. When ordering a Mackey Mocha yesterday, I noticed a very large trophy displayed between the fireplace …
Still waiting in McGrath for air transport to Unalakleet. My name is on the list for departure early this afternoon. Once again, the cooks and Wi-Fi are our best friends. Up far ahead of where I am, the front of the race is rather crowded. A musher should claim the Gold Coast Award before noon. …
Lots of transportation issues have volunteers holding in McGrath. The “official checkpoint” at the community center is buttoned up. For the most part, all the trail volunteers in McGrath have moved to a spot called the Café where Iditarod Logistics is located. The most populated Iditarod spot right now is the dropped dog lot where …
Watch the GPS Tracker and you’ll notice three markers that are letters instead of musher bib numbers. The trail breakers are noted as TB. The trail sweeps are noted as TS. The one that was out in the lead on Monday was TT – Teacher on the Trail™, Linda Fenton. Fenton was chosen a year …
The evening before the ceremonial start, snow moved in. Not the kind that fell from the sky or the ground blizzard type. This snow was trucked in. While it was still warm and sunny at 15:00 in the afternoon on Friday, the streets were blocked off in preparation for creating the trail through the streets …
