Hello, My name is.........and I'm a Mushaholic

Yes, I'm a Mushaholic and here's how I got hooked.

I grew up in an Air Force family and in 1969 my dad was ordered to Elmendorf AFB near Anchorage. We were a long, long way from Texas and this was a whole new world, culture and experience for us. I went to and graduated from West Anchorage HS, Class of 1972.

During those years the sprint races at Fur Rendezvous were the dominate dog sled races in the state. My folks and I would go down to 4th street to see the race starts and enjoy Rondy. We were privileged to witness one of the greatest rivalries in sled dog racing history, George Attla and Roland Lombard. We followed those races and others around the state through the local news-papers and radio. We were Attla fans, but you had to admire Doc Lombard and his tough New England dogs.

At that time, you could wander among the dog trucks and get really close to the dogs and mushers. It wasn’t nearly as well organized or the logistical challenge that the Iditarod is today. The dogs seemed fiercer then, more intense and feisty, but maybe that’s a sprint dog characteristic. So my memories are of walking around the dog trucks while eating a caribou sausage and watching the mushers get their dogs lined out.

My mom worked at one of the banks downtown and she was acquainted with some of the well known mushers of that time because they did their banking there. I remember her coming home one night and saying, “That crazy old Joe Redington. He wants to race dog teams from Anchorage to Nome! Can you believe that?!” That was 1971.

We left Alaska in June of 1972, so we did not see the first Iditarod, but we sure heard about it in the early months of that year. We were happy to hear about the first race starting out of Anchorage in March 1973, it was one sentence on the evening news with Walter Cronkite. After that first year we would hear snips and brief commentary that there was a 1000 mile dog race underway in Alaska, but no details no real content.

In the 1980’s Libby Riddles and Susan Butcher brought the race to the rest of the country, but still we got only the quick highlights and none of the strategy and dog management that makes the race so compelling for the fans. We had to be content with the news media and wait until someone wrote a book about running the race.

Everything changed in the late 1990s when the internet made it possible to read the Anchorage Daily News online for Iditarod reports. Then Cabela’s put up a website dedicated to the race and it was captivating. The Iditarod Trail Committee went online, so then we had two daily reports to compare and watch the strategy and maneuvering unfold. I’ve been following the Iditarod online for about a decade, but this year I’ve watched the mid distance races more closely and the Yukon Quest has greatly improved their online reporting. The internet has fed my addiction and allowed me to follow individual mushers and teams. It has brought me to the mushing community and given me new friends to share this old passion with.

That’s how I got addicted to sled dog racing, what’s your story?

South-Paw Sarida