Report Content.....A-4 Report Content -- Amplification.....A-5 Enclosure B -- COMMANDERâS OPERATIONAL REPORT (OPREP).....B-1
It's a competition that pits one dog driver, called a musher, and a team of dogs not only against other racers but against the (often cruel) forces of Â­Mother Nature. Named for a town in Alaska, the race ceremonially sets off from downtown Anchorage, Alaska, on the first Saturday in March.
In the 1960s, they organized a 50-mile race, but it was the 1973 race from Anchorage to Nome that launched the now world famous Iditarod competition. They chose the Iditarod trail to commemorate the 1925 diphtheria run. That first race in 1973 commenced with 34 teams, 22 of which made it to the finish line.