For any of you who are interested...

[Blue_In_AK]

(RogueValley, for one), I've posted some pictures of today's ceremonial start of the Iditarod sled dog race in the PhotoGroup here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=280x13723

There will be more tomorrow from the restart in Willow.

[purr]

1. Nice pictures!

Thanks for posting them!

[northofdenali]

2. Just got online a few minutes ago, Blue

GREAT shot of DeeDee - she's really rallied since her bout with cancer. I didn't see Aliy Zirkle running this year, though - we were so excited when she, a hometown gal, won the Quest.

[Blue_In_AK]

4. Aliy's running...

I'm sure I heard her team announced, and I probably got a shot of it, too, because I took a picture of each of the first 55 or so teams. We got kind of tired so didn't stay downtown for all 83 starts. Jim was out until 11:30 last night helping to put up fence, and then we had to be back down there at 5:30 a.m. to start parking the mushers, so he was pretty beat. When we go out to Willow tomorrow I'll try to get some shots of her to post for you.

ed. I see from my photos that Martin Buser was #58, so I guess we were down there longer than I thought. Anyway .... I'll definitely look for Aliy Zirkle for you tomorrow.

[Blue_In_AK]

6. NOD, I took probably eight photos of Aliy Zirkle for you...

If you'll PM me your e-mail address, I'll send them to you once I get them downloaded and "fixed."

[XemaSab]

3. Cool pictures, thanks for sharing!

I saw "Eight Below" the other night so I was expecting huskies and other big furry dogs, but some of those dogs look like normal mutts. :shrug:

Good photos!

[Blue_In_AK]

5. Yes, small and wiry wins the race. :-)

I think most of the dogs have some husky in them, but they are definitely mixed breeds. My favorite team - and I don't remember which musher it was - had all white dogs, 14 or 16 of them. They were so beautiful. I had the wrong lens on to get a good shot of the whole team, but I'm going to try to take one tomorrow.