Global Warming Turns Iditarod Route to Mush
Global warming is bad. (All together now, �How bad IS it?�) Global warming is so bad that there�s not enough snow in Alaska for dog sleds to race on their traditional route.
Last week, officials announced they were permanently changing the route of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, the most famous sled dog race in the world, due to ongoing �less-than-winter� conditions. [MSNBC]
Iditarod 101: The Iditarod is an annual 1,100 mile race in Alaska to commemorate sled dogs delivering life-saving diphtheria medicine to Nome in 1925, known as the �Great Race Of Mercy.� The lead dog of that race, Balto, has since become an international legend (and voiced by actor Kevin Bacon in the 1995 animated feature about his life). Traditionally, the race has had two starts, a ceremonial start in Anchorage on March 1 and a start to the competitive race the following day in Wasilla, home of the Iditarod headquarters, which follows the original trail. No longer.
The executive director of the Iditarod Trail Committee, Stan Hooley, says that too much development and not enough snow means they need to change the race. The ceremonial start will still take place in Anchorage, but they�re going to bring in snow to line the trail. And they have to shave 7 miles off of the route from the former 18-mile start.
The race itself will no longer start in Wasilla. Instead, it will move 30 miles north, to the town of Willow. Thanks to warmer temps, the race has not been able to start in Wasilla since 2002. And in 2003, �conditions were so dismal among some stretches of the race trial north of Willow� that race organizers had to move the whole kit and kaboodle more than 200 miles to Fairbanks.
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