The northern lights illuminating the way for racers in last year's Iditarod race. Photo by David Poyzer, via Iditarod.com - Anchorage, AK 
The 50th “Great Race on Earth”
In early March 1973, 34 brave souls and their dogs departed Anchorage with a 1,049-mile journey lying ahead of them. 20 days, 49 minutes, and 41 seconds later, Dick Wilmarth of Red Devil, Alaska passed through front street in Nome, becoming the first champion of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race and winning $12,000. 12 mushers scratched along the trail for various reasons, but the remaining 22 all eventually made it to Nome.
The race ended 32 days, 5 hours, 9 minutes, and 1 second after it began when John Schultz, the “Red Lantern,” or last musher, crossed the finish line. 50 years later, “The Last Great Race” remains an annual tradition, drawing large crowds and plenty of mushers from around Alaska, and some from even farther.
The modern Iditarod trail is fashioned from routes originally used by the native Inupiaq and Athabaskan peoples, which were greatly extended and expanded with the arrival of Russian fur traders in the 1800s. Around the turn of the 20th century, the trail reached its peak as a gold rush hit Nome and dog-sled teams were used to bring supplies into the city during the port’s icebound winter months.
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