Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race

Seward, Alaska, musher Mitch Seavey holds Zebra, one of his lead dogs, after crossing the finish line of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Nome, Alaska, late Tuesday night March 16, 2004. Seavey won the 1,100-mile sled dog race.

Seward, Alaska, musher Mitch Seavey drives his dog team up the finish chute of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Nome, Alaska, late Tuesday March 16, 2004, to win the 1,100-mile sled dog race.

Norwegian musher Kjetil Backen, left, drives his dog team across the ice of the Norton Sound near the Koyuk, Alaska, checkpoint of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. He is followed closely by Seward, Alaska, musher Mitch Seavey Monday, March 15, 2004.

Three-time Iditarod champion Jeff King runs his dog team up a hill near the Unalakleet, Alaska, checkpoint in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Sunday, March 14, 2004. King was the fourth musher into the coastal village.

Four-time Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race champion Martin Buser, of Big Lake, Alaska, checks a current race update during his 24-hour mandatory layover in the half-way checkpoint of Cripple, Alaska, during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Thursday, March 11, 2004.

Bronco, left, and Fiat, two of Noah Burmeister's sled dogs, catch a nap during a stop in the Takotna, Alaska, checkpoint of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Wednesday, March 10, 2004.

Jason Mackey, center, drives his dog team along Fourth Avenue in Anchorage, Alaska, with his father, Iditarod champion Dick Mackey, riding the second sled, left, and Marsha Wallace, right, during the start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Saturday, March 6, 2004. Jason is running the 1,100-mile race with brothers Lance and Rick. The 2004 Iditarod contains 4 sets of mushing brothers.

Chugiak, Alaska, musher Anna Bondarenko untangles her dogs and heads them out of the Takotna, Alaska, checkpoint of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Wednesday, March 10, 2004.

Norwegian musher Kjetil Backen pets his dog, Daim, during a rest stop at the Nikolai, Alaska, checkpoint of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, March 9, 2004. Backen was the first musher to reach the Nikolai checkpoint early that morning and held the lead in the 1,100-mile race for less than three hours.

Musher Mitch Seavey, center, of Seward, Alaska, checks in at the Nikolai, Alaska, checkpoint of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race as one of his dogs jumps to continue the 1,100-mile sled dog race March 9, 2004. Seavey was the first musher out of Nikolai to take the lead in the race to Nome.

Nenana, Alaska, musher Bill Cotter races out of the Rainy Pass, Alaska, checkpoint during the second day of the 1,100-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, March 8, 2004.

Kotzebue, Alaska, musher Ed Iten takes a nap in the Rainy Pass, Alaska, checkpoint in the Alaska Range during a break in the second day of the 1,100-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on March 8, 2004.

Mushers Robert Bundtzen, left, of Anchorage, Alaska, and Bill Pinkham of Glenwood Springs, Colo., race into the checkpoint at Rainy Pass, Alaska, during the second day of the 1,100-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, March 8, 2004.

Ramy Brooks of Healy, Alaska, who finished second last year, heads out on the official start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Sunday, March 7, 2004, in Willow, Alaska.

Members of the Anchorage, Alaska, Sons of Norway Lodge, left, give Kjetil Backen of Norway a sendoff as he drives his dog team past them during the official start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Sunday, March 7, 2004, in Willow, Alaska.

Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race veteran Randy Chappel from Arlington, Texas, takes off in Willow, Alaska, during the official start of the Iditarod on Sunday, March 7, 2004. A record 88 mushers are running the 1,100-mile race to Nome.

Merissa Osmar, 9, from Ninilchik, Alaska, daughter of Iditarod musher Tim Osmar, pets Tarzan, one of her father's sled dogs, before the official start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Sunday, March 7, 2004. A record 88 mushers are entered in the 1,100-mile race to Nome.

Three-time Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race champion Jeff King of Denali Park, Alaska, Heather Greenwood, middle, and Ellen King ride by the crowd as he drives his dog team down Fourth Avenue in Anchorage, Alaska, Saturday, March 6, 2004, at the start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Musher Martin Buser ducks behind the custom sail he constructed for his sled as he heads toward Unalakleet, Alaska on Norton Sound, in March of 1993. Its use has since been banned. Sled dog racers are constantly tinkering with their sleds and gear to discover some new competitive advantage, but their improvements are often invisible to the untrained eye, slicker sled runners, hotter stoves or better booties.

From Anchorage, in south central Alaska, to Nome on the western Bering Sea coast, each team of 12 to 16 dogs and their musher cover over 1,150 miles in 10 to 17 days.