SLED DOG LINKS:

Birdmonster, a San Francisco based rock band, is going to "Nome" this summer. Their newest album, From The Mountain To The Sea, is scheduled to be released August 5th, 2008. Amongst their other "mountainous" themed songs - the album will feature a song titled "The Iditarod".

Further Resources:
Birdmonster MySpace (The Iditarod can be heard here)

Aisling Sheperd, a ten year old from Norway, Maine - recently became one of the three winners of the 2008 American Girl of the Year "Real Girl" Award. She was able to travel to New York City & meet champion figure skater Emily Hughes, deliver an acceptance speech, and enjoy the sights and sounds of the well-known city.

According to Stephanie Spanos, an American Girl spokesperson - it was Aisling's determination and passion that helped her to stand out against a competitive field of 8,000 entires into the contest.

It's no secret that sled dogs are amazing athletes; controversially the best animal athletes of the natural world. With incredible hearts, and super-strength lungs; sled dogs have the ability to run for hours on end without tiring.

This year's 25 Toughest Athletes, published by Sports Illustrated, posed quite a surprise for the mushing community. Coming in at a strong 2nd place - our very own Lance Mackey led the 25 Toughest Athletes list. He was only surpassed by the most well known sports persona in the world - Tiger Woods.

Sports Illustrated posted a wonderful, non-biased synopsis of Mackey's accomplishments - along with other career information.

This is a preliminary announcement of an upcoming event sponsored by Quesnel's Gold Rush Trail Dog Sled Association.

On Wednesday June 18th, at 7:00 p.m. in the main lodge at Troll Ski Resort on Highway 26 west of Quesnel B.C., Warren Palfrey, a top finisher in this year's (2008) Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race will be giving a talk about his experiences in this year's incredible race. The official documentary video of the 2008 race will also be premiered at this event.

According to an article by the New York Times, Dr. Michael S. Davis from Oklahoma State University, was given a $1.4 million grant in 2003 by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to study the metabolic wonders in working sled dogs.

The goal of Dr. Davis' project is to use the information gained from sled dog study - and use it to further advance human combat soldier's ability to resist fatigue on the battlefield.

Texas A&M researchers are also teaming up with Dr. Davis along with a $300,000 Darpa grant - and have been routinely traveling to Alaska for sled dog research.

Europe´s toughest race has it´s winners on both, the 600km and the 400km versions.

Team Norway´s Kjetil Backen, who will take his turn in running Iditarod this year, is the 2008 Femundlopet 600 champion! Following just minutes behind were Iditarod veteran Ketil Reitan and two time Iditarod champion Robert Sorlie, both from Norway.

Backen needed 75 hours and 28 minutes to complete the 647km ran in what´s known to be one of the most challenging trail profiles in European distance races.

This year's Iditarod field is the largest the race has ever seen - with 96 teams running in the Last Great Race. Among the competitors are Jeff King, Lance Mackey, Martin Buser, Mitch Seavey, Zack Steer, Kjetil Backen, Paul Gebhardt, Rick Swenson, Hans Gatt, Dee Dee Jonrowe, and many more - making this year's race full of fast, competitive teams.

WHITEHORSE, YUKON (February 20, 2008) - As Lance Mackey glided over the Finish line in first place early this morning, the veteran musher has entered the history books yet again winning his fourth consecutive 1,000-mile Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race.

After 10 days, 12 hours and 14 minutes on the race trail, Mackey arrived in the Whitehorse Finish chute at 1:23 a.m. local time before an enthusiastic crowd of 500 supporters, volunteers and Race Officials only 15 minutes ahead of Ken Anderson, his closest competitor.

The popular knowledge portal, HowStuffWorks, has recently published an article on "How Mushers Work." Inside the article they include the following topics: How Mushers Work, Reasons to Mush, Preparing to Race, Race Realities, plus other information. The article is well thought out, researched - and makes for a good read and added publicity for the sport of mushing. Also included is a Sled Dog Image Gallery.

Read the article via HowStuffWorks.