The last major gold rush in Alaskan history occurred in 1909 at Iditarod, 629 miles from the future site of Anchorage and halfway to Nome. Originally, the Iditarod trail served as a mail and supply route from the coastal towns to the inland mining camps. Mail went in and gold came out. Since trucks and planes had not yet made it to the region, and snowmobiles did not exist, dog sleds were used for all transportation.

The trail earned its historic reputation in 1925 when its top mushers and dogs helped to save the citizens of Nome from a diphtheria epidemic. Joining the doggie equivalent of the Pony Express, they rushed the serum over miles of frozen wilderness to the stricken town in the mountains.

• Read the story of the heroic sled dog Balto, who led his team through difficult conditions to deliver the serum to Nome.

Dorothy G. Page later organized the first Iditarod race in 1967 to commemorate Alaska’s Centennial anniversary. Fascinated by the fact that dogs could traverse roads inaccessible by cars, Page felt that since the canine teams played a crucial role in Alaska’s history, their efforts should be remembered with a great race.

This Year's Race
This Saturday, March 2, approximately 60 mushers and dog teams will leave the starting gate in Anchorage. Over half of the competitors simply hope to survive the grueling conditions and make it to the finish line in Nome.

Two sets of athletes compete in this race: the two-legged ones and the four-legged. While each team can enter a maximum of 16 dogs, mushers are only required to finish the race with five dogs left on the gangline and pulling the sled. (Don't worry. Tired dogs don't get abandoned. They get to hang out and wait at the checkpoints until the end of the race.)

Like Olympic athletes, the dogs undergo rigorous physical training and examination, including pre- and post-race drug testing. The dogs need to be in great shape, because while on the trail, they may be subjected to hyperthermia (overheating), hypothermia (freezing), frostbite, and a host of other dangers.

• The Iditarod Veterinary site offers more information about the sled dogs.

The many checkpoints marked along each route are extremely important to the race teams: they offer a place to rest and pick up supplies, and they're also a place where vets can make sure the dogs are in good shape. Before the race ever begins, each musher plans which items need to be transported to designated food drops along the trail. A minimum of four pounds of dog food per dog must be available for each stop.

• Suppose your team has 14 dogs. How do you calculate the total amount of food you need to send to the food drops?

One of the key checkpoints for the mushers on the trail occurs at mile 1,049 for two reasons: the team has crossed the 1,000 mile mark, and Alaska is the 49th state.

• This year, the 1151-mile Northern route is being used. What percentage of the total race distance have the teams covered when they reach the 1,049-mile checkpoint? What percentage have they left to cover?
• To learn how to solve this problem, join Dijit and his friends in Rockridge to find out about finding percentages of a whole, from Riverdeep's Destination Math.

Sled dogs have a lot of pulling power. Believe it or not, pound for pound, sled dogs pull more than any other draft animal in the world; in fact, the average sled dog can potentially pull over half a ton (1,000 pounds). (This is amazing when you consider that the average dog weighs 75 pounds!) The dogs work together to pull a sled filled with gear and food. The race rules state that mushers must have all of the following on board the sled:

• A warm sleeping bag
• An axe (with at least a 1-3/4 lb head and a 22" handle)
• One pair of snowshoes
• Eight booties for each dog
• One cooker and pot for boiling at least three gallons of water
• A veterinarian notebook to be presented at each checkpoint
• Enough food and snacks (for the dogs and musher) to last until the next checkpoint

Booties are important for protecting the dogs' paws on this long journey which sometimes takes them over difficult terrain.

• On one leg of the trail, you have 120 booties on board your sled. There are 14 dogs on your team. How many times will you be able to change all the dogs' booties?

Making the Finish Line
The rules and policies of the Iditarod require that each team make one mandatory 24-hour rest stop, as well as two eight-hour stops. These stops do not affect the overall time of a team. In 2000, on the 1151-mile Northern Route, Doug Swingley set the record for the fastest Iditarod finish with his team of 11 dogs: nine days, 58 minutes and six seconds.

• How fast did Doug and his team travel? Give an average speed in miles per hour.

While the glory goes to the fastest team, the slowest team each year still receives honors in the form of the Red Lantern Award. According to the complete list of Champions and Red Lantern winners on the Iditarod site, Brad Pozarnsky set the record for the fastest Red Lantern time in 1998: 14 days, 5 hours, 42 minutes, and 4 seconds on the North Trail. A red lantern is awarded to the last musher to finish.

• How fast did Brad’s team travel? Again, give an average speed in miles per hour.

• See how Dijit prepares for another kind of long-distance journey: a cross-country hot-air balloon flight. How much oxygen and water can he bring without exceeding the balloon's maximum capacity? Help Dijit use the order of operations to figure it out.

— by Beth Holland of the Harvard Graduate School in Education's "Technology in Education" program