2008 Iditarod 2008 Iditarod The 2008 Iditarod featured 95 mushers and dog teams. The 36th Annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race ceremonially began on Saturday March 1, 2008. The competitive start was the next day. The 1,161 mile (1,868 km) dogsled race ran through the American state of Alaska. The Iditarod course extends from just north of Anchorage to Nome. The majority of competing teams hailed from the United States, while notable other teams from Norway, Germany, and Canada were in the running. The competition was one of the closest in recent memory, with defending champion Lance Mackey and four-time winner Jeff
Sled dog racing Sled dog racing Sled dog racing (sometimes termed dog sled racing) is a winter dog sport most popular in the Arctic regions of the United States, Canada, Russia, Greenland and some European countries. It involves the timed competition of teams of sled dogs that pull a sled with the dog driver or "musher" standing on the runners. The team completing the marked course in the least time is judged the winner. A sled dog race was a demonstration sport at the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York and again at the Olympics in Oslo, and once more in