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In pictures: Alaska’s premier dogsled race

Each year, mushers and their dog teams race from Anchorage to Nome, often facing blizzards and gale-force winds.

Dogs wait to run in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Willow, Alaska. 65 teams will be making their way through punishing wilderness toward the finish line in Nome on Alaska(***)s western coast 1,000 miles away.
Published On 11 Mar 2013

Every March, mushers and their team of 16 dogs descend upon Alaska to traverse the chilly state in order to win dog sledding’s premier race known as Iditarod.

The race, which has grown from an obscure contest many considered a one-time lark into a world-famous, big-money sports extravaganza, began in Anchorage on Saturday this year and will finish in the Bering Sea town of Nome.

Winners, who must race through blizzards causing whiteout conditions, sub-zero temperatures and gale-force winds, have reached Nome in about nine days in recent years.

Iditarod
A typical dog on the Iditaroad is an Alaskan husky, Siberian husky, a hound or a mixture in between
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Iditarod
Grayling is 830km into the 1606km race and is an Athabascan village of about 100 people on the banks of the Yukon River
Iditarod
Racers are called "mushers" after the French word for "to go". Checkpoints are often used by mushers as a place to catch up on rest
The lead dogs of Sonny Lindner charge down the trail. The Iditarod race commemorates a 1925 rescue mission that carried diphtheria serum to Nome by sled-dog relay.
Musher Matt Failor puts booties on dog Angel prior to leaving the Iditarod checkpoint in McGrath. The winner of the race will receive $50,400 and a new truck. Other top finishers will also be awarded cash prizes, which total $600,000.
Iditarod
A selection of food typically carried by mushers during the race
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Musher Anna Berington, left, pulls her dog team up to the start line as Jessie Royer, right. As of yesterday, a handful of mushers had reached Iditarod, the ghost town for which the wilderness trail is named, that marks the race(***)s halfway point.
Brownie, foreground, a sled dog in Mike Surenant(***)s team, rests at the Finger Lake checkpoint..
Iditarod
What mushers can(***)t bring with them, they drop off at checkpoints along the way. This includes everything from cooking fuel, extra food, meat for the dogs and parts for broken sleds. The typical fuel is anti-freeze, which burns slow and hot - mushers soak straw or a roll of toilet paper in it and use it to heat food
Dogs waiting to be raced. The prize money for the sport(***)s premier race doesn(***)t cover the annual dog food bill for many competitive mushers, who keep dozens of dogs in professional kennels geared to breed the sturdiest, fastest runners.
Jessica Hendricks(***) team races down the trail.
Iditarod
Soon, mushers will escape the interior of Alaska and arrive at Unalakleet on the Bering Sea coast