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.
Each team must start with 16 dogs and finish with at least six. (Read what it takes to compete in the Iditarod.) National Geographic talked to Diane Johnson, the Iditarod's director of education, to learn more about the so-called last great race. 1. Iditarod is a city, a river, a trail, and a race. Iditarod means distant or distant place in the languages of Ingalik and Holikachu, which are spoken by indigenous Athabaskan peoples of northwestern Alaska. It's also the name of a city, a river, and a trail in the same area.