You can see the countdown timer on Iditarod.com as you anxiously await this year’s race. Do you wonder what everyone else is doing while they wait?

As soon as one race ends, plans and preparations for the next year’s race begins. Volunteers are being recruited, teachers are being trained on using the Iditarod as a base for instruction, rules and procedures are refined, merchandise is being produced, and the trail is being prepared but by and large the biggest preparation is by the mushers and their canine athletes.

As you can imagine, they don’t just sit around with their feet up waiting for the first Saturday in March. They train, stay fit, and refine their practices.

Last weekend, January 26, nine mushers that are running the 2019 Iditarod finished the Tustumena 200, a mid-distance race run through the Caribou Hills near and around Homer, AK.

Congratulations to Kristy Berington, Mitch Seavey, Lance Mackey, Anna Berington, Sarah Stokey, Michi Konno, Nic Petit, Travis Beals, and Jeff Deeter on their finish of the T200.

Here are a few pictures from the finish thanks to the Tustumena 200 Sled Dog Association and Robin Moore.