2008 Iditarod The third death was 4-year-old Cargo, a member of Ed Iten's team, in which the cause of death is unknown. 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
Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race and forage for food when the ground is thick with snow. As a result, the moose sometimes prefer to use pre-existing trails, causing hazards for the dog teams. In 1985, Susan Butcher lost her chance at becoming the first woman to win the Iditarod when her team made a sharp turn and encountered a pregnant moose. The moose killed two dogs and seriously injured six more in the twenty minutes before Duane "Dewey" Halverson arrived and shot the moose. In 1982, Dick Mackey, Warner Vent, Jerry Austin, and their teams were driven into the forest by a charging moose. Otherwise,