| The annual dog sled race in Alaska, the | | | | travel to Anchorage and pick up the |
| Iditarod race, is held the second Saturday in | | | | medicine.The medicine was taken to Nenana |
| March each year. The race starts in | | | | from Anchorage by the Alaska Railroad. A dog |
| Anchorage with the finish line in Nome, | | | | sled relay would be used to pick up the |
| approximate distance of 1,200 miles. The | | | | medicine at Nenana, a town north of |
| first race was held March 3, 1973. Since | | | | Anchorage. Twenty mushers volunteered to |
| that first race, the popularity of this event | | | | relay the medicine from Nenana to Nome, 674 |
| has grown through the years, along with the | | | | miles away. It was 50 below zero, when the |
| amount of the prize money. The winner of the | | | | first musher left Nenana and six days later, |
| 1973 race received $50,000 and today that | | | | on February 2, 1925, the dog team of Gunner |
| amount has increased to around $500,000.The | | | | Kaassen arrived in Nome. Legend has it that |
| mushers spend anywhere from a few thousand | | | | on this last leg of the trip, a big gust of |
| dollars to tens of thousands of dollars on | | | | wind turned the sled over, with the |
| the race. Not only do they have the entry | | | | life-saving serum falling out onto the snow. |
| fee to pay, but also the cost of their sled, | | | | Kaassen used his bare hands to dig the serum |
| their clothes and equipment; plus the cost of | | | | out of the snow, turned his sled upright and |
| keeping their dogs all year, which estimated | | | | proceeded to finish the trip into Nome.The |
| total cost of everything runs around $60,000. | | | | lead husky of Kaassen's dog team was Balto. |
| They do have corporate sponsors who sponsor | | | | He immediately became a world hero, as the |
| them, which helps to defray their cost.The | | | | world had been watching this story unfold |
| Alaska Iditarod is to Alaska about the same | | | | through newspaper accounts. Balto traveled |
| as the Indy 500, the Super Bowl or the | | | | the United States for two years after the |
| Olympics. It is the longest distance dog | | | | serum run, with people celebrating his heroic |
| sled race in the world. It was originated as | | | | deeds that helped save the children in |
| a tribute to an actual event which occurred | | | | Nome.Then in 1933 when Balto died, his |
| during the winter of 1925. During that | | | | preserved body was put on display at |
| winter of 1925, a deadly outbreak of | | | | Cleveland's Natural History Museum. His |
| diphtheria had struck, threatening all the | | | | popularity lives on, as in 1995 an animated |
| children of Nome. They needed the serum to | | | | movie about Balto was made.He has become a |
| fight this disease, but the serum was in the | | | | highlight with the Alaskan children and some |
| city of Anchorage, over 1,000 miles away to | | | | are working to get Balto brought back to his |
| the southeast.There was one airplane that | | | | home state of Alaska to the Iditarod Trail |
| could have been flown to Anchorage to pick up | | | | Sled Dog Race Museum in Wasilla.Balto is also |
| the medicine, but it had been dismantled and | | | | partly responsible for the Iditarod race |
| stored for the winter. A large Alaskan | | | | which was first started in 1973. It is held |
| wilderness of uninhabited land lay between | | | | to commemorate the courage of the mushers and |
| Anchorage and Nome. There was frozen and | | | | the dogs who participated in that life or |
| rough terrain with no roads. As a last | | | | death race to save the children of Nome. |
| resort, it was decided to try sled dogs to | | | | |