Are you watching the countdown timer? In just 5 days, the Last Great Race will begin for the 47th time. And preparation continues at a frenetic but organized speed these days. Because race headquarters is based at the Lakefront Hotel during the race, much of the infrastructure can’t be set up until shortly before the …
From Yentna Station early on Sunday morning, all the Jr. Iditarod mushers are on the trail heading for Willow. The first musher to leave Yentna Station, Anna Stephan, departed at 04:48. Winds were calm, skies were clear and the temperature was 9 degrees below zero. Stephen is the only veteran in the 2019 Jr. Iditarod. …
It’s partly cloudy in Knik and the temperature is climbing from the zero mark. There’s plenty of snow as Mother Nature has been good to mushers and snow machiners over the recent weeks. Trail officials have groomed and marked the trail. The question yet to be answered, will the trail set up or will it …
There’s a go to person in every organization. For Jr. Iditarod it’s Barb Redington. In recognition of her service, the Jr. Iditarod Board of Directors has named Barb as the 2019 Honorary Musher. Barb will receive Bib #1, signed by the Jr. Iditarod mushers, to wear at the start of the 2019 race. Jr. Iditarod …
A superb group of seven mushers are heading to Knik Lake in the morning for the start of Jr. Iditarod XLII. Earlier today mushers brought their dogs in for vet check. This evening they gathered for bib draw, pizza, beverages and race rule information. The field went from eight to seven when a musher withdrew prior …
This February will mark the 42nd year of the Jr. Iditarod. The Junior, just like the Iditarod, began as a dream. Joe Redington, Sr. dreamed of a long distance race across Alaska to keep the sled dog in Alaska and the old mail routes on the map. It was Eric Beeman who dreamed of a distance …
Hello everyone! February 8-9 was one of the premier junior distance dog mushing events, the Willow Jr 100, starting and finishing at Vern Halter’s Dream A Dream Dog Farm in Willow, Alaska. The race is for kids aged 12-18 (18 year old’s allowed to race if they are still in high school!), and covers approximately …
Eight teenage mushers make up the field for the 2019 Jr. Iditarod. More rookies than veterans and more girls than boys. The race welcomes its first competitor from Sweden. The elite eight will run a 150-mile course from Knik Lake to the Yentna Station Roadhouse then finish at the Willow Community Center. This year marks …
Ask me when Iditarod begins and I’ll reply, “The last Saturday of February.” Ardent Iditarod fans might attempt to set me straight with, “Don’t you mean the first Saturday of March?” But no, I stand firm. Iditarod begins with the Jr. Iditarod and that happens the last weekend of February. The young mushers that run the …
The countdown timer says 12 days until Iditarod 2019 begins and every day the hands of volunteers are doing more preparation. Volunteer work can leave your hands rough and calloused, but In this case the volunteers are leaving with even softer hands than before. On Saturday, February 16, another group assembled at Iditarod headquarters in …
