1925 serum run to Nome popularity of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. While the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, which runs more than from Anchorage to Nome is actually based on the All-Alaska Sweepstakes, it has many traditions that commemorate the race to deliver the serum to Nome, especially Seppala and Togo. The honorary musher for the first seven races was Leonhard Seppala. Other serum run participants, including "Wild Bill" Shannon, Edgar Kalland, Bill McCarty, Charlie Evans, Edgar Nollner, Harry Pitka, and Henry Ivanoff have also been honored. The 2005 Iditarod honored Jirdes Winther Baxter, the last known survivor of the epidemic. The position
Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race where they are taken care of by prison inmates until picked up by handlers or family members, or they are flown to Nome for transport home. According to Iditarod veterinarian Dr. Stuart Nelson, Jr., "Reasons for dropping dogs are numerous. Attitude problems, fatigue, illness, immaturity, injury, being “in heat,” lack of speed and musher strategy, are the more common ones." The dogs are well-conditioned athletes. Training starts in late summer or early fall and intensifies between November and March; competitive teams run before the race. When there is no snow, dog drivers train using wheeled carts or all-terrain vehicles set