The actual Iditarod 2009 race starts Sunday, but on Saturday 67 "mushers" and more than 1,000 dogs set their sights on Nome, Alaska.
The Iditarod 2009 race covers 1,161 miles (1,868 km) Willow (near Anchorage) to Nome. On Saturday, teams were let loose every two minutes and "paraded" through Anchorage, as a prelude to the actual race.
Last year's field sported a record 96 teams, but in 2009 there are only 67. There are 52 veterans and 15 rookies, including 13 women, entered.
The 2009 purse is down to $610,000 from $935,000 last year. Recession-based drop? It's unclear, but Iditarod race officials blame the drop on paying out too much in prize money in the past two years.
The 2009 Iditarod winner will receive $69,000 and a new pickup, just as in 2007 and 2008, but the others in the top 30, who are "in the money" will receive less.
Though not released to the Iditarod, the most famous event among Alaskan mushers is likely the 1925 "Great Race of Mercy," a "race for life" with a series of mushers trying to get diptheria serum from Anchorage to Nome as quickly as possible ended with Norwegian Gunnar Kaasen and his lead dog Balto arrivintg in Nome on February 2, just five and a half days later after the relay began.
Balto was later immortalized in an animated film released in 1995.
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