This Saturday, March 1st, the 2008 Iditarod gets underway with the Prologue launching the event, and the race proper following on Sunday. As always, it should be another intense, amazing race with all manner of adventure and drama.
The Official Site has some great content up, including a number of good videos. The "2008 Preview" video is especially good for getting us up to speed and ready for this event. You'll be able to follow along with a lot of the action over at IditarodBlogs.com where they've already begun updating on the event. You'll also find Dog Profiles (and lets face it they're the real stars of the Iditarod!), links to other sites covering the race, and much more.
The early word is that the trail is in good shape with a typical amount of snow out on the course. Last year, there were sections that were more ice and frozen dirty than snow, which made it tough going at times, but for the 96 men and women preparing to get underway on Sunday, it loks like they can expect good conditions for their pups to run in.
As for predictions on who will take the event this year, it's always difficult to say. Obviously 2006 winner Jeff King will likely be in the mix again, and with Doug Swingley retired the door is open for someone new to step up. But it's difficult to bet against Lance Mackey who not only won last year's Iditarod, but is coming off his fourth straight win at the Yukon Quest. An impressive feat to be sure.
As always, I'll try to provide updates on the race as it's being run. It truly is one of the best adventures to follow. 1100+ miles of trail across Alaskan wilderness in the dead of Winter. You know these guys are just slightly off their rocker, and we love them for it! ;)
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