“Whoosh”, the wind blew against the mushers face as he rushed toward the finish line . “ In March every year, dog sled teams and drivers from all over the world compete in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race”(Miller 223).The Iditarod is an 1,000 mile race, it starts in Anchorage, Alaska and the competition ends in Nome, Alaska. There are 12 checkpoints throughout the trail, you can choose to stop and rest or keep on going. The first place prize is 75,000 dollars and more. The Iditarod is a memorial for the great serum race, a relay of dog sled teams raced to Nome, Alaska to bring surum to stop a huge epidemic of diphtheria. The dogs and owners risked their lives to save the people of Nome, so every year we commemorate their courage by racing in the Iditarod. The Iditarod is a great race, the dogs love to run, people find it fun and it is a great memorial, but is it worth the trouble, dogs can get sick, die, some owners don’t care enough for their dogs and some …show more content…
There are many bad aspects, for the dogs in this race. You may think it is a tough experience for humans but it is especially hard on their dogs. Many dogs die in the Iditarod, and many people believe it to be animal cruelty for them run the Iditarod. At Least 136 dogs have died since the first iditarod took place. Some dogs die of getting to cold, having sickness and kennel cough, which can spread through the whole team. Worst of all there are times when dogs die of being beaten, whipped and kicked. This can happen when the dog is not going fast enough, or if they are slowing down the pack, the owner would kill them or hurt them so they would go faster. Owners can be awful to their dogs, at checkpoints dogs drink out of rusty buckets, when the dog is sick they are sometimes forced to run and sometimes the owners just don’t care enough for their dogs as they do