Today is Sunday and tomorrow, Monday March 3rd, is the official re-start of Iditarod 2025! The race starts at 11am AKST, so depending on your time zone, you could watch the re-start live with your students!! Normally, the re-start would be the day after the Ceremonial Start, but all the mushers, dogs, volunteers, and race officials have to get all the way to Fairbanks, so the re-start is two days after the Ceremonial Start. Early this morning, I flew from Anchorage to Fairbanks while my family drove the same route. Six hours (and 14 moose) later, they arrived in Fairbanks, while my flight was only 41 minutes at almost 500 mph. A persuasive essay over which is better: seeing the beauty from the road during a long drive or seeing a fraction of the beauty from the sky while saving time, could yield some interesting outcomes with your students. While flying over Denali, the ride was a little bumpy, but nevertheless there is only beauty between Anchorage and Fairbanks.
Volunteers were busy in Fairbanks making sure that everything is prepared for tomorrow morning. Safety fences were placed on both sides of the trail from the staging area, past the Pike’s Waterfront Lodge and across the Chena River. Using chainsaws, the volunteers made holes in the ice for the trail markers to attach to the fencing. Snow machines were moving up and down the trail to make sure that the snow was level. Many volunteers spent a few hours in the afternoon training to be a dog handler to help bring the dog teams to the starting line. It was a busy and very productive day! Let’s get the race started!
Questions? Send me a message! emailtheteacher@iditarod.com
