Libby here!
Did you know that there is a ‘little’ Iditarod? (You know how I love to tell you about little things! Did you notice my last name is Littles?)
Ok, so maybe ‘little’ isn’t the right word. How about shorter? Well, there is a shorter Iditarod and this race is for younger mushers. It’s called the Jr. Iditarod.
The Jr. Iditarod is held each year the weekend before the start of the Iditarod. Mushers must be at least 14 but they can’t have turned 18 before the start of the Jr. Iditarod. On the start day of the race, the Jr. Mushers race about 80 miles to Yentna Station where they take an 8 – 12 hour lay over. They race back to the starting line after their lay over. The race route is about 160 miles.
The number of Jr. Mushers each year is different.
The Jr. Mushers follow rules, have required gear in their sleds, and they earn some neat prizes!
Meet Lacey Hart. She is a musher from Montana that hopes to race the Jr. Iditarod.
Lacey is writing a book. Lacey visits schools and talks about mushing. You can learn more about Lacey by clicking this link.
You can learn more about the Jr. Iditarod at this link.
This year, one of my goals is tell you about the Jr. Iditarod, so watch for an article about the Jr. Iditarod each month!
Learning about the Jr. Iditarod mushes is so much fun!
Just Spinning de ‘tails’,
Libby