Iditarod Invitational

The World's Longest Human Powered Winter Race

350 miles or 1100 miles

These folks have it going on, truly. This is not a dog powered activity, but it is a race inspired by the dog teams of Alaska. It is basically a mountain bike, ski or foot race of 350 or 1100 miles. The bike riders have super suped up bikes, and the walkers pull a sled with their gear behind them the whole way. This event, which started yesterday, goes on around the clock. Participants are allowed to prearrange for food drops only; all gear must be carried. The racers pack for daily caloric consumption of over 6000 calories, and will still drop body weight over the course of the race. A good sport for big eaters! THIS BLOG , written by a couple of self professed big eaters, goes into great detail about the intense caloric needs and the importance of fun food groups like chocolate. They intend to get 50% of their calories from fat. Photos above by Whit Richardson, those below are from blogs referenced, and the map is from race site. Here is another fun filled Arctic Athlete BLOG of one of the bikers...and JILL HOMER is racing too. I can't even comprehend attempting to hoof it. Pretty brave and strong souls. Note: This year they will take the northern dark colored route. The Map of the route:
Time limit to complete the 1100? 30 days. For the 350 you have just 10 days. To Find ongoing race results Check the LeaderBoard HERE or the latest news HERE. ADDENDUM: as of Thursday the 28th the first bike rider has arrived in McGrath at 4:20 am! ADDENDUM 2: Great coverage of the race and additional commentary featured on the NPR site HERE.