10 Years ago I was wrapping up my tenure as 2013 Iditarod Teacher on the Trail™ and passing on the official sleeping bag to Jen Reiter. It had been a busy year with teaching 3rd Grade while preparing for the teaching adventure of a lifetime. 66 Mushers were signed up to run the 2013 race and 54 finished. The talk that year was the unusually warm temps during the race and it even rained on many teams who were racing on the Yukon River. Mitch Seavey  won the race with Aliy Zirkle and Jeff King claiming 2nd and 3rd place. 

2013 was the year that Newton Marshal’s dog May (from Jim Lanier’s kennel) ran off between the Rohn and Nikolai checkpoints. This sweet little dog had a force of volunteers searching for her on snow machines and by air. May didn’t need them, she was determined to go home and that’s where she was found. The story of May has been told to many classrooms as an inspiration of grit and doggedness.

All of these facts and statistics about the race are documented in the Race Archives and a book was written about May. The actual experience for me lives on in my memories and the Teacher on the Trail™ blog found here. The 2013 Iditarod experience had a profound impact on my life giving me confidence I never knew I had. TEACHERS – THIS CAN ALSO BE YOU! Here is the application for the Teacher on the Trail. Give it a try and maybe the 2025 Iditarod can be a part of your teaching story.