[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 4237-4238]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   RECOGNIZING THE 45TH IDITAROD RACE

  Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, we have been talking a lot about the 
weather here in Washington, DC, the past couple of days. We got a 
little bit of snow yesterday in some parts. People are still kind of 
plowing out of their driveways. I am looking at the daffodils that were 
out 3 days ago, and they are now buried, and the cherry blossoms are a 
little bit crispy on the trees.
  So many of us are not feeling like spring has really sprung here. But 
in Alaska, in my home State, when we think of spring, one of the things 
that brings a smile to the face of so many of us is that it means it is 
time for the Iditarod, the Last Great Race on Earth. It is an exciting 
time of the year for so many, when we come together to celebrate a 
1,000-mile race across some pretty desolate territory in the State of 
Alaska.
  The race itself has a much storied history, one that is somewhat 
unique to the State of Alaska and to our culture. The race commemorates 
a lifesaving diphtheria serum run to the community of Nome. Back in 
1925, diphtheria had raged through the community, and there was no way 
to get the serum to Nome. We did not have aircraft that could make it 
that far. Remember, it is pretty cold in February and in March. We 
still don't have a road. We really had no way to move the diphtheria 
serum.
  So it was determined, after a great deal of debate and discussion and 
pros and cons that they would use a dog team relay to get the 
diphtheria serum to Nome. There are names of dogs that have now become 
infamous, like Togo, Fritz, and Balto, which led this amazing race. 
Today, the memory of that lifesaving race is lived on in a race that 
features just a little bit shy of 1,000 miles, again across pretty 
frozen isolated areas. It involves 1,000-plus dogs that are in the 
running.
  For many of us, there are 1,000 more reasons that you really would 
not want to do that. But I have to tell you, as I look at these 
mushers, as I look at these dogs, and as I look at all that goes into 
the mushing history of our State, it makes me excited about not only 
the men and women who are the mushers but the true athletes, the K-9 
athletes, and all that they give up.
  I was home in Anchorage last weekend for the ceremonial start on 
Saturday. It is a great deal of hoopla. There are not too many 
communities in America where you actually truck snow into the downtown 
part of your community, fill the streets up with snow so that the dog 
teams can launch from downtown. Thousands of people gather to watch the 
start. We were commemorating the 45th annual Iditarod race.
  The official start was on Monday morning in Fairbanks, AK, a town 
that I also call home, having gone to high school there. The route this 
year was from Fairbanks, what they call the northerly route, up to 
Nome. It shaves a little bit of the miles off. I think this year it was 
about 979 miles. So it was not quite 1,000 miles, but still good enough 
to test a man or a woman and their dogs.
  It was kind of tough starting in Fairbanks on the morning of the 
race. Temperatures were around 50 below. They hit the river, went right 
past the house where I grew up, and went downriver. By the time they 
got to the first checkpoint there at Tanana, the temperatures were 50 
below and people were talking about how you stay warm on a sled and who 
has bad frostbite that is coming back after years of running.
  Let's just put it this way. The Iditarod is not for the timid or the 
weak. It takes real grit to run this race. When you think about all the 
hoopla that comes with the ceremonial start and all the people who came 
out in the community, then you get on the trail and you are alone. You 
are by yourself. We have 26 different checkpoints between Fairbanks and 
Nome. As a musher reaches a checkpoint, there is an appreciative 
audience of the villagers who come out to cheer them on.
  Again, the villagers can't offer help with taking care of the teams. 
The mushers have to do it all themselves. But there is a lot of time to 
think and reflect about the beauty surrounding you, a lot of time to 
worry about whether or not you have moose or wolf or bear or whatever 
is out there keeping them company. But truly, this is not only an 
endurance race, but it is a race that challenges the mind. There are 
stretches of just almost mind-numbing isolation in the cold where you 
are just focusing on your team in front of you.
  But as you can see, when you get out--this is right on the outskirts 
of Nome; this is coming in at the end of the race--there is a lot of 
isolation out there. The temperatures that you are dealing with are 
tough on a human being. Over the course of this past week, the 
temperature range was a 70-degree range. The temperature in Nome 
yesterday at the conclusion was 4 degrees above zero. So it is on the 
positive side, which was good news for the mushers. But that is a 
pretty substantial range that you are going through.
  It is an amazing race in terms of the strategy that goes into it. You 
would think: Well, you just get your dogs in line. You know where you 
are going to feed them. You know where you are going to let them rest.
  But the strategy that goes into a race like this is really quite 
unique to the various mushers. What we have seen with this race is an 
extraordinarily fast race, where the winner was averaging between 10 
and 11 miles per hour between some of these checkpoints. It is pretty 
extraordinary to have your dogs keep up a pace like this.
  Some mushers will hop off their sleds and run alongside their dogs 
when they are going uphill, just to take some of the weight off the 
sled. But think about that. You have been going for a week. You have 
been going around the clock pretty much for some of these. You are 
exhausted. You are freezing cold. Now you are going to jog behind your 
dogs to lighten the load. This is, again, extraordinary. Many of the 
others, as they are approaching the end, will keep their strongest 
dogs, shed the nonessential gear, and switch to a lighter sled to push 
through on the final stretch.
  But there are a lot of different tactics. When a dog is tired, you 
can put them in the basket so the dog can rest, kind of like a coach on 
a basketball team: You need to be put on the bench and just kind of 
take a breather here. We do it with the dogs as well. But this is a 
race not only about the endurance, but it also is one where there is a 
great deal of work to ensure that these high-performance athletes are 
cared for and that their safety is looked after.
  Again, if a dog gets too tired and is just not right, mushers can 
leave them at a checkpoint to ensure their well-being so that they are 
not pushed too much. Again, putting them in a basket, making sure that 
the dogs are cared for. There is a veterinarian at every step along the 
way. The vets check the dogs out at every checkpoint. The mushers have 
to carry the veterinary check record, if you will.
  These vets are not local vets. There are some 50 vets that volunteer 
to come to Alaska for the Iditarod and go out there along the trail to 
one of these checkpoints and to do the checks before the race and after 
the race.
  When I was in Anchorage last week, I was visiting with a veterinarian 
from Colorado. The Presiding Officer probably might even know him. But 
he comes every year. This was his eighth Iditarod. He volunteers his 
time because, again, it is an amazing race with amazing K-9 athletes. 
They are the ones who get the care and attention. I don't know that 
there are any doctors out along the trail for the mushers, but the dogs 
are well cared for.
  It is required and there is mandatory rest that is taken. Mushers can 
determine where the 24-hour rest period is taken. There are two 8-hour 
stops, one along the Yukon River and one at White Mountain, just before 
you get to Nome. But, again, you think about the demands on the 
individual as they are mushing along at this pace.
  There is a story out of this year's race about a musher. I think it 
was day 3 into the race. A team comes into the

[[Page 4238]]

checkpoint. They are clipping right along, but there is no musher. The 
musher had fallen asleep while standing on the runners of his sled and 
just kind of fell off his sled.
  He had a pretty good team, if I can just say. They were obviously 
following the trail from teams ahead of them. That team just went on 
and ended up at the checkpoint there. It was a little while later that 
another musher came along and saw this musher walking, following his 
dog's footprints. He gave him a ride to the next checkpoint where his 
dogs were all there just waiting for him, saying: You know, we got here 
first. Where were you?
  But it kind of speaks to some of the issues that go on along the 
trail. There used to be a time, up until this year, when there was no 
two-way communication devices that were allowed--none at all. So as to 
your cellphone, you could not have your cellphone with you.
  It was designed to make sure you were not gaining unfair advantage in 
determining where other mushers were ahead of you or behind you. But 
for safety reasons, I think there is a recognition that being able to 
send out an alert if you need it is probably wise and important. A 
thousand miles is a lot of land to cover. There are a lot of things 
that can go wrong when it is just you and your dogs along the trail.
  The news. The news is big about the 45th Iditarod race. This year, 
the winner, a fabulous gentleman by the name of Mitch Seavey, blasted 
the overall record--extraordinarily impressive. He set the Iditarod 
record of 8 days, 3 hours, 40 minutes, and 13 seconds. What is 
wonderful to add to this story is that this is the fastest time. The 
next fastest time, the fastest time that we had had up until this year, 
was the year prior, which was set by his son. Think about that. What 
athletic competition, what sport can you have a father and a son go in 
toe to toe beating the all-time record? Last year, the 29-year-old son 
was the winner. This year, the 57-year-old dad is the winner. And who 
came in second this year? The son.
  When I was at the ceremonial start and I had the opportunity to see 
Mitch Seavey, I went up to him, and I said: OK, I know everyone is 
betting on Dallas Seavey to win because it would be win No. 5 for him, 
but I am going with the old guy.
  Fifty-seven is not so old. Mitch Seavey certainly demonstrated that 
just yesterday.
  The Seavey family is Iditarod legend. Dan Seavey, who is Mitch's 
father, ran the very first Iditarod in 1973, and then some 44 years 
later, his son Mitch and his grandson Dallas are still going at it. 
Mitch won in 2004 and in 2013, and his son Dallas won in 2012, 2014, 
2015, and 2016--again, a father and son kind of trading off second and 
third places during each of these.
  It is extraordinary when you think about the records that have been 
broken with this race, and the closeness of the race is exciting to 
look at. When the second and third place finishers came in--Dallas came 
in just 5 minutes ahead of the third place musher, Nicolas Petit, who 
calls Girdwood his hometown, as does one of our young pages here, and 
it is a place I call home as well.
  So there is a lot of excitement with the winners, not only with Mitch 
Seavey's record-smashing race but also the fact that he is the oldest 
racer to win, at 57. Again, as he has reminded us, 57 isn't that old.
  I will acknowledge that both Dallas and Nicolas Petit came in 
breaking last year's record as well.
  So for the sixth year in a row, we have had a Seavey champion. You 
talk about a family of champions, this is pretty amazing. This one is 
Mitch's third win, and it is an extraordinary win.
  I spoke to Mitch not too long ago to offer him my congratulations, 
and I told him: As a parent of two 20-somethings, I like the command 
you demonstrate. You have still got it in you. You are going to be a 
fierce competitor.
  But what Mitch told me was really a lovely statement. He said that 
what was so great was to be at the finish line seeing his son coming in 
and seeing Dallas genuinely happy at Mitch's win. He said that they 
were head-to-head competitors all throughout the race, and Dallas 
didn't make that five-time win that he was hoping for, that so many of 
us Alaskans were hoping for, but he was so genuinely proud of his 
father.
  As of this afternoon, we have 10 mushers who have crossed the finish 
line. I wish all of the other mushers and their fearless dogs good luck 
as they continue to make their way to Nome over the next few days and 
beyond.
  This is an event that I love to celebrate with my colleagues. I love 
to brag about the amazing men and women, not just the Alaskans but from 
all over the country and really from all over the world. Our fourth 
place finisher is from Norway, Joar Leifseth Ulsom. He was right up 
there all the way to the end. It is men. It is women. Jessie Royer was 
the first woman in, and she came in fifth place. Aliy Zirkle crossed in 
eighth place. So they are remarkable men and women--Alaskans, 
Americans, and people from truly around the globe--who come to compete.
  Truly the ones we celebrate with great enthusiasm and gusto are these 
canine athletes that demonstrate to us all that there is no end, there 
is no limit to their love to run, their love to compete, and their 
desire to excel.
  I am pleased to be able to celebrate with colleagues from the Senate 
in recognizing the 45th Iditarod race, the Last Great Race on Earth.
  With that, Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Lee). The Senator from Oklahoma.

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