NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A master sergeant in the Tennessee Army National Guard is the first Tennessean in history to compete in Alaska's 2008 Iditarod, billed as "The World's Last Great Race."
Master Sgt. Rodney Whaley, a Guard veteran of 24 years, is one of only 102 people in the world to qualify for this year's 1,159-mile race from Anchorage to Nome. Fifty-two racers are from Alaska, 14 come from other states and 16 hale from foreign countries.
The 56-year-old Guard Soldier from Franklin, Tenn., is running 16 sled dogs in the event which started March 1 in Anchorage, Alaska. The mushers will be on the trail from 10-17 days, accompanied only by their dogs as they battle the fierce elements along the dangerous route.
The Iditarod is considered by many to be the most grueling and demanding individual sporting event in the world today.
The two-week race will take the Tennessean over frozen rivers, jagged mountain ranges, dense forests, desolate tundra and miles of windswept coast. Added to that are temperatures far below zero, winds that can cause a complete loss of visibility, long hours of darkness and treacherous climbs on side hills.
Whaley, who spent his childhood in Alaska, is being sponsored by the Army National Guard. As a boy, he raced in junior sled dog competitions but has always remained passionate about the sport. In recent years, he has raced in British Columbia, Canada, Washington state and northern Michigan.
"The Iditarod is the ultimate experience and my lifelong dream," Whaley said. "Now, utilizing what I've learned in the Guard and with their sponsorship, it's a reality."
To qualify for the Iditarod, Whaley was required to complete two sanctioned races, one of 300 miles and the other of 200 miles. He began full-time training last October in Michigan and Minnesota, but he's been a familiar site in his Franklin neighborhood during the cold months as he ran his team using a "dogsled-on-wheels."
The rules of the race include certain regulations by which each musher must abide. There are also certain pieces of required equipment: an arctic parka, an ax, a heavy sleeping bag, snowshoes, musher food, dog food and boots for each dog's feet to protect against cutting ice and hard-packed snow injuries.
The mushers use different tactics on the trail. Each one has a special diet for feeding and snacking the dogs. Each one also has a different strategy. Some run in the daylight; some run at night. Each has a different training schedule geared to the dogs' stamina and the musher's personal stamina.
The Iditarod Trail had its beginnings as a mail and supply route from Alaska's coastal towns to the interior mining camps. Men and supplies went in; gold came out, all via dogsled. Heroes were made and legends were born.
In 1925, part of the trail became a lifesaving highway for epidemic-stricken Nome. Diphtheria threatened the people, and serum had to be rushed in by intrepid mushers and their faithful, hard-driving dogs. The Iditarod is a commemoration of those early years, a not-so-distant past of which Alaskans are particularly proud.