Nome gets ready to welcome mushers

By Associated Press, adapted by Newsela staff on 03.12.14

Word Count 734

Iditarod musher Martin Buser, from Big Lake, Alaska, comes in off the ice through a cut in a pile of ice pushed up near
the shore in Koyuk during the 2014 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Sunday, March 9, 2014. Bob Hallinen/Anchorage
Daily News/MCT

NOME, Alaska — Each year teams of dogs on sleds and their drivers race across Alaska
for nearly 1,000 miles. The drivers — known as mushers — are trying to see who can make
it to Nome the fastest. Jeff King is leading the pack. He's attempting to hold off other
mushers in the last stages of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Meanwhile, the town famous for the finish line is getting ready for the teams to come in.

On Sunday, city crews moved the finish line into place. The city trucked in snow to give the
mushers a path once they leave the Bering Sea ice.

"Yeah, I know, it's funny to see people dumping snow on a street instead of taking it off the
street," said Greg Bill, an organizer of the Iditarod. "To really dress it up and make it safe for
the dog teams, we have to spread a layer of snow down for them to run on."

"It's Like Family Now"

About 200 volunteers also have gone down to Nome to make other last-minute
preparations.

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Bill McCormick of Greensboro, N.C., volunteered for his first Iditarod in 1998. He's been
back every year since.

"I like being part of putting something on," said the retired engineer whose job as a
volunteer in Nome is to drug test the dogs. "I enjoy the people. It's like family now."

King, a four-time champion, was leading Aliy Zirkle by 20 minutes Sunday. The two arrived
at the Elim checkpoint shortly before midnight.

Zirkle, a 44-year-old musher from Two Rivers, Alaska, led hours before when she arrived at
the village of Koyuk. It's 171 miles east of Nome. She had been one minute ahead of King
on Sunday afternoon.

King rested his 12-dog team at the checkpoint for three hours and 42 minutes. Zirkle
chose to let her 11 dogs take a break for three hours and 44 minutes.

Trying For Fifth Win

King last won in 2006. He is trying to be only the second musher to win five races.

Zirkle has come in second place in the last two years. She is seeking to become only the
third woman to win the race. And she would be the first woman to win since the late Susan
Butcher in 1990.

Other front-runners include four-time champion Martin Buser. He arrived in Koyuk in third
place Sunday. He was followed 13 minutes later by 2012 Iditarod champion Dallas Seavey.

The racers are expected to begin arriving in Nome no later than Tuesday. They have two
more checkpoints before Nome.

Temperatures in Nome hovered slightly above zero Sunday, which brought clear skies and
brilliant sunshine. Snowfall has been light this winter in the frontier town of nearly 3,700. So,
the city has been stockpiling snow. It was being trucked to the finish line.

What little snow was on the ground, along with the cooler temperatures, were welcomed by
fan Nina Cross of Brandon, Miss. She attended the start of the race last year in Anchorage.
After falling in love with the event, she decided she needed to see the finish in person, too.

1925 Serum Run

Cross said she remembers as a child reading about the 1925 serum run. Serum is a
medicine. In 1925, serum was used to treat diphtheria. The disease was making people
very sick and spreading quickly. Diphtheria is an infection that affects people's nose and
throat. After an outbreak of diphtheria, 20 mushers and 150 sled dogs traveled over 600
miles to deliver diphtheria serum to Nome. They rescued that town and neighboring ones
from the outbreak.

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"Nome was this mystical destination, and it never occurred to me that I would get there
some day. So, for me to be here is a real event in my life," she said.

And she loves the dogs.

"Any dogs that can laugh when they run, with their tongues hanging out, they got my heart
right now," said Cross.

The race began March 2 with 69 teams. As of late Sunday morning, 16 mushers had
scratched, leaving 53 teams on the trail. Long stretches of bare and rocky ground made
for an icy, dangerous trail in the early part of the race.

The first to reach Nome receives $50,000 and a new truck. The 29 teams after that win
cash prizes that get smaller depending on their times. All other teams finishing the race
receive $1,049.

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