It was a crisp and beautiful morning along the Yukon River… after an eventful night. If you haven’t already heard, many of the teams ran a portion of Manley to Tanana in a sand storm. Some of the trail markers were knocked down and hard to find, which left several teams disoriented and eventually exhausted. If you’ve followed the Iditarod with your students before, don’t forget to tell them that this year is unlike any other. The weather conditions, the mileage and the route are all unique this year and mushers are continuously changing their race strategies to do what is best for their team.
I met Emily Robinson at the local school in Tanana, Maudrey J. Sommer School, which serves 25 students in grades kindergarten through 12th. She spoke with the students about the rich dog mushing history in Tanana and how mushing has shaped her life. I have now heard Emily speak a few different times and she does a very good job of tailoring her conversation to her audience. When she spoke at the Iditarod EDU Educators Conference, she spoke about how she got started with mushing, but also about the challenges she has overcome and how “it won’t always be easy, but it will be worth it.” When she spoke to the students of Tanana, she shared much of the same information, but she also focused on the importance of being a good person, contributing to your community, and following your dreams at a young age.
Tanana to Ruby was beautiful from the air! However, this is the longest stretch of the route, sitting at 117 miles between the checkpoints. While waiting at the checkpoints, we are constantly checking the GPS tracker to see how far away the musher is from the checkpoint, but we are also looking at the speed to get an idea of what time they will be arriving and if they will possibly be passing another team. Paige Drobny was the first musher to Ruby and the bells at the church were ringing as she ran up the hill with her team to the checkpoint.
Have you checked out the EDU Categories on the website? Take a look at the section for students! And let me know how you’re using the race in your classroom: emailtheteacher@iditarod.com
