The dogs’ feet become bruised and bloodied, cut by ice, and just plain worn out from the tremendous stretch of ground that they cover.
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5,6 They must run about 100 miles per day, with only 40 hours total of rest mandated throughout the entire eight-to-10-day race. 3,4 The dogs-usually husky mixes weighing less than 50 pounds-are usually tethered to 400-pound sleds in teams of up to 16. Meanwhile, the dogs, viewed as little more than snowmobiles with fur, are lucky if they finish the race alive and without serious injuries.Ībout 1,000 dogs start the Iditarod, but more than one-third are “dropped” every year because they become sick, injured, or exhausted from being forced to run for hours through jagged mountain ranges, frozen rivers, dense forests, and desolate tundra in biting winds, blinding snowstorms, and temperature fluctuations from 40 degrees above to 60 degrees below zero. It’s only one of several such races in which mushers, or dogsled drivers, compete for thousands of dollars and other prizes.
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Imagine flipping on your back and being dragged down an icy incline.” 2 That’s how two sports columnists described the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, a grueling expedition from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska, which takes place every March.
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Imagine “racing your dog from Orlando to New York, depriving him of sleep to complete the course as quickly possible, mushing though waist-deep water and ice, with the dog losing about 10 pounds through the ordeal.” 1 Or consider tethering yourself “to 15 other runners on a 50-foot gangline while pulling 400 pounds.