Iditarod: The Last Great Race

Musher Jim Warren, of Lutington, Mich., left, holds his sled dogs as veterinarian Steve Bowen, from El Centro, Calif., checks their health during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race vet check in Wasilla, Alaska, Wednesday, March 1, 2006. All of the dogs running in the 1,149-mile sled dog race, which started on March 4, undergo a complete physical checkup to make sure they are fit to run the Anchorage to Nome race.

Richmond, Utah musher John Martin pets his dog Ruby, sitting in the front seat of his truck, after his team members underwent their physical checkup during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race vet check in Wasilla, Alaska Wednesday, March 1, 2006.

Rookie Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race musher Bryan Bearss, of Anchorage, Alaska, is photographed with some of his vacuum frozen meals as well as snacks of nuts and fruit leather, Friday, Feb. 24, 2006. Bearss will heat the vacuum-packed meals in the water used to prepare dog food so that he will have a hot meal to eat after he has fed his dogs along the trail.

Musher Bill Pinkham, of Glenwood Springs, Colo., mixes dog food in the parking lot of the Fur Rondy carnival in downtown Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday, March 3, 2006, as he and 82 other mushers prepare for the ceremonial start of Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. The ceremonial start is an 11-mile precursor to the 1,149 mile race which will start in Willow on March 5.

Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race musher Fabrizio Lovati from Vallee D'Aoste, Italy, signs a stack of trail mail during the Iditarod musher's meeting in Anchorage, Alaska on Thursday, March 2, 2006. The mail will be carried across the Iditarod trail where it will be auctioned in Nome during the musher's banquet. The 1,149-mile race from Anchorage to Nome officially started on March 5.

Ruth Iten of Kotzebue, Alaska, puts booties on her husband Ed Iten's sled dogs before the start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Willow, Alaska, Sunday, March 5, 2006. Iten placed second in the 2005 race. Eighty-three mushers from around the world are heading to Nome during 34th running of the Iditarod.

Ceremonial Start

Charlie Nelson hands one of Iditarod musher Louis Nelson's sled dogs to him before the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Anchorage, Alaska, Saturday, March 4, 2006. The race commemorates the 1925 dog sled relay of medicine to end the diphtheria outbreak.

Ryan Redington, center, grandson of the father of the Iditarod, Joe Redington Sr., with an unidentified person on the second sled and Marty Kilroy, from Eustis, Fla., in the sled, waves to the crowd as he drive his during the ceremonial start of the Iditarod on March 4, 2006. Redington's grandmother, Violet Redington, died at her home in Wasilla as the ceremonial start of the race got under way.

Musher Rachael Scdoris, of Bend, Ore., puts her dogs away while tourists watch in downtown Anchorage, Alaska, Friday, March 3, 2006, as mushers prepare for Saturday's ceremonial start of Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. The ceremonial start is an 11-mile precursor to the 1,149-mile race, which started in Willow on Sunday. Scdoris could be the first legally blind musher to finish the Iditarod.

Jim Warren, of Linwood, Mich., slaps hands with one of his dog handlers as he drives his dog team down Fourth Avenue in Anchorage, Alaska, with "Iditararider" Lee Mowak from Traverse City, Mich., in the sled during the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on March 4, 2006. A telephone auction is held each year where fans can be a rider in a sled from the start line for the first 8-9 miles.

Two-time Iditarod champion Robert Sorlie, from Norway, plays with Norwegian musher Bjornar Andersen's dogs before the start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Willow, Alaska, Sunday, March 5, 2006. Andersen trained with Sorlie, who is not running this year.

Musher Paul Ellering drives his dog team down the starting chute of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Willow, Alaska, Sunday, March 5, 2006. Eighty-three mushers from around the world are heading to Nome duiring 34th running of the 1,149-mile race.

Lance Mackey, of Kasilof, Alaska, drives his dog team down the starting chute of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Willow, Alaska Sunday, March 5, 2006. Mackey won the 1,000- mile Yukon Quest sled dog race in February.

Day 2

Katie Davis, of Lincoln, Mont., followed by Tore Albrigtsen, of Norway, heads into the Finger Lake, Alaska, checkpoint during the second day of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Monday, March 6, 2006.

Ed Stielstra, of McMillian, Mich., followed by Bill Pinkham, of Glenwood Springs, Colo., heads into the Finger Lake, Alaska, checkpoint during the second day of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Monday, March 6, 2006.

Ed Iten, of Kotzebue, Alaska, who placed second in last year's race, feeds his dogs during a rest stop at the Rainy Pass, Alaska, checkpoint during the second day of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Monday, March 6, 2006.

Aaron Burmeister, of Nenana, Alaska, pulls into the Rainy Pass, Alaska, checkpoint during the second day of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Monday, March 6, 2006.

Day 3

John Baker, of Kotzebue, Alaska pulls into the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race checkpoint at Nikolai, Alaska, Tuesday, March 7, 2006. Four-time Iditarod champion Doug Swingley was the first musher to reach the checkpoint on the Kuskokwim River followed by three-time champion Jeff King.

One of musher Paul Gebhardt's dogs sleeps, foreground, as Rick Swenson pulls into the Nikolai, Alaska, checkpoint of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Tuesday March 7, 2006.

John Barron of Helmville, Mont., puts straw down for his dogs at the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race checkpoint in Nikolai, Alaska, Tuesday March 7, 2006. Four-time Iditarod champion Doug Swingley was the first musher to reach the checkpoint, followed by three-time champion Jeff King. Tuesday was the third day of the race.