Hello friends,

Woo woo woo woooooo! Dog paws will hit the trail on Monday, March 6, 11:00 AM Alaska Time from Fairbanks, AK for the 45th running of the Iditarod. It all began Saturday with the Ceremonial Start in downtown Anchorage. Mushers and their Iditariders, humans who pay for a ride in the sled, began at 10:00 AM Saturday. They ran down 4th Ave., turned right on Cordova and headed out of the city on some park trails. It was howling fun.

There is typically no snow on 4th Avenue because it’s usually used for another kind of transportation, something humans call a car. This means that Friday night before the Ceremonial Start, they bring in dump truck loads of snow and use a grater to spread it out and pack it down. It took most of the night to get the roads covered. BowWow! It’s a lot of work to set up for the Iditarod. My friends who ran this year said this was the best snow they’ve had on the street in a few years.

The mushers only use 12 of the K9 athletes for the Ceremonial Start because we are so strong and fast. We want to make sure everyone is safe and has a good time. After the fun Saturday, athletes and mushers packed up and headed to Fairbanks for Monday’s official start. Remember race fans, you can figure out when your favorite team will leave the start because they leave at 2 minute intervals.  Woo woooo! I’m getting excited. 

Tail wags all day,

Zuma