I’ve been catching the Iditarod coverage on the versus network over the last few weeks, Its really pretty impressive the type of national feel they give to the Iditarod. I know that the whole crew at versus works really hard to capture the whole Iditarod story and put it into a 3 hour TV special. It can be very frustrating though as a hardcore Iditarod fan to know some of the great stuff that doesn’t get talked about because of time constraints or because of the amount of energy that would go into telling a backstory. I do have to say that national coverage always focuses so much on the race leaders, its to bad for those out there that run the race out of pure passion every year, but don’t get their 15 minutes of fame. I suppose you can’t confuse people to much with listing dozen of musher names and positions, but there is so much more to the Iditarod than just who is in the top 5.As Versus airs their last special this Sunday evening, we will officially say goodbye to Iditarod 35, and start looking to some of the smaller races that will happen over the next year. Keep your browsers tuned to Dogseld.com for amazing coverage all year long; they really keep the ball rolling for all the true mushing fans out there in cyberspace.All Alaska Sweepstakes One big event coming up in 2008 that will dramatically change the Dog Sled landscape next year is going to be the “All Alaska Sweepstakes”. This $100,000, winner take all race will happen right around this time in 2008, just two weeks after the Iditarod. The race is 408 miles, it is from Nome to Candle and back, and is a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the original running of the AAS. The last time this race happened was in 1983, and Rick Swenson took the prize that year.When I was in Nome I sat down with Howard Farley, who helped to start the Iditarod with Joe Reddington, and is on the committee that is in charge of the All Alaska Sweepstakes. Also included in the interview is Urtha Lenharr, Iditarod veteran and board member for the AAS 2008. Mushers are signing up for this race in droves; King, Swenson, Mackey, and Seavey are just a few of the names that have already signed up for this historic running. Listen to the hour long interview below, and then visit the All Alaska Sweepstakes website.

Posted by admin on Tuesday, March 27th, 2007 at 3:33 pm.