2014 Dog Sled Races

It is that time of year when Anchorage is visited by dozens of dog sled teams. Last weekend it was the Fur Rondy World Championship Race. The 17 teams ran 25 miles on Friday, another 25 on Saturday, and a final 25 on Sunday. This coming weekend it will be the Iditarod teams who race for 1000 miles.

Last Friday I took the older four children to see the Fur Rondy race. In the past we've gone downtown to see the dogs, but that means extra travel time so this year I decided to head over to our favorite spot for watching the Iditarod teams. Because the Rondy race runs three days, the trail isn't as crowded as when the Iditarod teams are out. 

In fact when we were there, there wasn't a crowd at all just a few spectators. I parked within in view of the trail. It was a cold day which the dogs like. The children had all dressed in their snowsuits. We got out and walked across a frozen pond to get to the trail. We saw three teams zip by--the last three. We then had to wait until all the teams looped around and came back. 

I took Lincoln to wait in the warm van while the older three goofed off in the snow. Since I could see the children from the van, I let the older three stay next to the trail and play. After twenty minutes or so the teams started racing by again. Lincoln and I rejoined the trio. After twelve or thirteen teams raced by we headed home to warm up.

I'm not sure if we will make it out to see the Iditarod teams this year. The boys have karate from 9:30am to 2:00pm. I will have to ask them if they want to skip the earlier classes to check out the teams. The Iditarod teams are not racing when they visit Anchorage, so the teams go slower and the musher greets spectators and hands out dog booties. The Fur Rondy teams were racing for a $50,000 purse, so the dogs and mushers were not interacting with the spectators.