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Blazing the Trail for Future Generations

In 1975 Eric Beeman, Rome Gilman, Mark Couch, Susan Wagnon, Clint Mayeur, Carl Clawson, and Jessee Reynolds, had a dream of starting a competitive race and providing a training ground for young mushers like themselves interested in distance racing. During the next two years other young people including Kenny Pugh, Jeff and Kirsten Pralle, Clarence Shockley, Randy Rader and others joined them and turned this dream from extended camping trips into the beginnings of the premiere race we know today.

History of the Iditarod
An interview with the 2007 Jr Iditarod Race Marshall

Joe Redington Sr., after discussing the idea with these young people, advised them to "go for it" and that was the beginning of the Jr. Iditarod.

This dedicated group of young mushers, with the help of their parents and other interested adults, worked very hard and saw their dream realized when the first Jr. Iditarod Trail Race took place in March of 1978. From then on, the race has grown in stature and professionalism to an event of approximately 160 miles in length. It is held on the weekend immediately preceding the start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race and draws young mushers from all over Alaska and from outside the state as well as Europe with Thomas Krejci of Czechoslovakia being our first international entrant in 1992.

Official website

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