On Thursday 15 October the second annual ‘Legends of Iditarod’ gala took place in Anchorage, at the Alaska Aviation Museum. It was an event to celebrate the poeple, dogs and volunteers who built the Last Great Race, and to raise funds for the future of the race. Five different classes were honoured including Founders, Volunteers, Conributors, Dogs and Mushers.
This year Aliy was one of just three mushers to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, alongside DeeDee Jonrowe and Doug Swingly. Iditarod Press Release. Aliy was honoured not only for her multiple top ten finishes, but also the six Humantiarian awards she won for exemplary dog care during the race. They joined Rick Swenson, Libby Riddles, Susan Butcher, Martin Buser, Jeff King and Lance Mackey who were inducted during the inaugural event last year.
It was a fantastic event kicking off with the Founders telling incredible stories of the early years of the Iditarod. Dick Mackey had some wonderful memories to share, as did John Norman and Leo Rasmussen. Dick Tozier’s family were also able to able to share some recollections. Those first few years of the race needed some audacious ambitions to enable it to still be in existence 50 years later!
Volunteer administrator Cheryl Zachary and veternarian Bob Sept were also honoured, and Bob was able to induct Susan Butcher’s Grantite and Rick Swenson’s Andy into the canine class. We were then treated to a fantastic slideshow and history of the Iditarod Air Force as they were honoured in the Contributor Class. Link to ADN article
During her acceptance speech, Aliy said there were just too many people to thank individually for supporting her through her mushng career, but she took the opportunity to appreciate her father Doug who had encouraged and supported her since she first hooked up a dog to her skateboard in Puerto Rico when she was 8 years old.
To coincide with the festivities, and because several people travelled to Alaska for the event, we organised somewhat of a mini SP Kennel ‘reunion’ the following morning where we enjoyed talking about the ‘good old days’. We also enjoyed a ‘Aliy and Allen’ slideshow of incredible photos taken by Jeff Schultz over the years out on the Iditarod trail, and we were able to relive some precious memories.
The crew had fun during the few days in Anchorage, playing tourist and enjoying the sights.
