The modern race attracts major corporate backing, though in recent years,animal rights activists who condemn the race as cruel to the dogshave pressured some companies to drop support.Ĭlimate change has wrought some of the greatest changes in the world's most famous sled-dog race, as it has for much of life in the far north. Winners typically reach the finish line in just nine days. Teams are tracked by global positioning satellite, and live coverage is beamed worldwide to audiences through internet streaming services. Now, top Iditarod contestants are professionals with high-tech gear bearing sponsors' logos. The Iditarod has come a long way in the half century since it began in 1973 as a low-budget, novelty event that drew a field of all-amateur mushers and took the winner 20 days to complete. ![]() The Iditarod is one of the few high-profile sports evens where women and men compete on equal footing. Seventeen of this year’s mushers are women. “A whole bunch of them are really good teams,” the Norwegian said in the Anchorage starting area. ![]() Those and others should be contenders for this year’s title, said Leifseth Ulsom. ![]() The field also includes Pete Kaiser, who in 2019 became the first Native Yup'ik musher to win the race, 2018 champion Joar Leifseth Ulsom of Norway, and four-time winner Martin Buser.
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