CLIFF'S IDITAROD INTERNET WEB LINKS - Being edited for 2011

 

Here's a list of links to some great Iditarod Sled Dog Race Web Sites. If you know of any good web sites or favorite links that you'd like included let me know. See web site statistics and my address at the bottom of the page. The site was mostly updated for 2010. I've added an asterisk "*" or "**" to indicate changes since the last update.

When you click on any of the following links (underlined blue or red text) you should go directly to that site. Hit the "Back Button and you'll eventually come back to this file. Previously I found that one often needs to try a second time to get some of the www.iditarod.com pages to open. If you get a "this page does not exist" error message, hit the Refresh Button (or F5). In some cases the "server is down", so you need to try again later. If a link doesn't work after a couple of tries, please let me know. Another hint is that many graphics files (the address usually ends with .jpg) can be enlarged by clicking on the image.

 Sometimes some of the toolbars at the top of your screen don't display. This may depend on how you accessed a certain web page. It's often useful to see the Refresh Button. If it's not visible, click on 'View" and "Toolbars" and click on "Standard Buttons" if that option is not checked. If the address bar is not visible and you want to see your current web location, click on View > Toolbars and click on "Address Bar" if it's not checked. An alternative to hitting the Refresh Button is to just hit F5.

 Sometimes you want to see more of the screen and fewer toolbars. To do this just hit F11. This will only show one condensed toolbar. This is an alternative way to display the Refresh Button if it hadn't been visible. Hit F11 again to display the extra toolbars. F11 is a shortcut to selecting View > Full Screen.

I often prefer to do a "right click" and "Open in New Window". One can continue to read the current page while the new page is loading and one can compare two pages when necessary. Some links such as "JavaScript's" that don't start with "html://" will not work this way. Only the standard left click works with them. In previous years my browser window didn't appear normally on many of the Iditarod pages. There was usually an alternative. Sometimes I noticed that if Back Button was not displayed I could select "View" and "Go To" and select "Back".

* At one time my intent was to show all possible Iditarod links. I'm changing the page to only show some of my favorite links. Those wanting a list of most Iditarod links should go to the: 2011 IDITAROD LINKS - Websites, Blogs, Webcams, FB & Twitter link by Heidi at the Bering Straight School District site or her SIMILAR LINK at the Iditarod Race Talk Forum on the official Iditarod site. One caution on this last link. After checking out all the great links you will then scroll down to old (2008) comments. To see new comments you need to go towards the end of the list.

 The OFFICIAL IDITAROD WEB SITE at http://www.iditarod.com/ is still one of the best starting points.
NOTE: Currently in 2011 many of the following are repetitious but I'll leave them in for now.
Other starting pages include the: IDITAROD SITE MAP (All links appear to be current - 2011.)
Another good link is the Iditarod Race Coverage Page. Use this link and/or the sites in the next paragraph to keep up with the race.
I've listed a few of the better "sub-pages" on the next few lines: (Note however that many of the sites are repetitive.):

A good site for 2011 is the Eye on the Trail Iditarod Blogs Page. As the race progresses older articles may be moved to the Eye On The Trail 2011 Archive Page although initially they seemed to be the same.

 The Latest Press Releases are found at the "FOR PRESS" SITE. Initially I find none for 2011. Note that this site is only the "official" releases and in the past they've been significantly lacking.
Although designed for kids, the Zuma's Paw Prints page sometimes has unique information.

The following are two of the best "non Iditarod.com" sites: 1. Anchorage Daily News and 2. Josh Rogers' Iditablog Site
(Previously the Alaska Public Radio Network (Aprn) Iditarod Site was good but there's nothing for 2011. You might check because it was good last year.

The GPS Tracking Site is WAS a fantastic site. It probably still is but you need to pay about $20 to use it. I may do this. Last year it was available for several days before you had to pay for it. Also last year the $20 included access to numerous Videos as an "Iditarod Insider" This year the Videos also cost about $20. (You can get a combined Insider package for about $33.) . Last year other than a few malfunctioning units, all mushers had one. The units apparently sent a location every 15 minutes. However sometimes the GPS signal didn't work due to trees, terrain features or other obstructions. I expect that it's about the same this year or maybe improved. Check out the Iditarod Talk Forum GPS thread for more discussion. See below for my impressions from last year.

The initial display on the left side was a list of mushers with Bib #, Racer Name, Current Speed, Race Miles, and "Age". Age was apparently the time since the GPS signal was refreshed. I think you needed to refresh your web browser to reset this time. The initial listing was by race order. Those that have covered the most miles are first. However sometimes the GPS wouldn't record so the order wasn't always exact. You could click on one of the columns to change the order. For example a click on the top of the Racer Column resulted in an alphabetical sort.

On the right was a MS Bing Map (similar to Google Maps) showing the racers locations. Be sure to zoom in and switch to the "aerial" (photo) view occasionally. Once away from the populated area (near Anchorage) the resolution of the map didn't allow you (in "aerial" mode) to zoom in as much as you'd like, but it's still useful. Clicking on the Checkpoints Tab gave a list of the checkpoint mileage from Willow. However when I compared this mileage with other pages I got over 100 miles total distance difference. For the last two years I thought the GPS "Checkpoint Miles" were a "little off", but they may be closer to the actual miles than the traditional miles. I think the data in the race results logs is from the traditional mileage. CLICK HERE for additional information about this great feature.

Another good page is the Discussion Forum Page. One of the best "Threads in this forum is the 2011 Iditarod Links - Websites, Forums, Webcams, Etc. page. Also check out the 2011 IDITAROD LINKS - Websites, Blogs, Webcams, FB & Twitter on the BSSD site, in case there are differences.

 Here are the LATEST RACE RESULTS: OR "CURRENT STANDINGS" Note the links to other displays at the top of the page. The Checkpoint Summary page can be a very informative page. I recommend that you use the "Open in New Window" option for the current standings page. Then leave it open and periodically click on it and hit the Refresh Button (or press F5) to see if the standings have been updated. However you may want to review some or all of the "Previous Race Results" 1st. Note that the Current Standings Page provides a link to the previous 2010 race results log-files. Sometimes it's good to have an alternative. Here's the link to the Anchorage Daily News Iditarod Standings List.

 The 2011 race results archives page was set up promptly this year. Here's how I Use the Archives of the "Current Standings": If I haven't checked the standings for awhile, I go to My 2011 Log-Files Archive Page first and find where I left off. I then check each log-file until there are no more left or until the links in my archive page don't work, and only then do I look at the actual current standings. When I check these I look for the ORANGE HIGHLIGHTING which indicates that something in that record has changed since the last update. That way I can "watch the race unfold" just as I would if I'd been checking the current standings all along. You also may want to use this technique. You should be able to access any of the log files from this online spreadsheet. In addition to the date and time and a link to the actual log-file page, I've added comments as to the status of the leaders. Generally I limit comments to those in the top 10, those that have scratched, or the last to leave a given checkpoint. Note that sometimes they miss a person leaving a given checkpoint, so that person is shown as way behind, only to suddenly appear at the next checkpoint. When I check out the archive files before checking current standings I call it a Virtual Tour. Click on CLIFF'S HOW TO TAKE AN IDITAROD VIRTUAL TOUR for more information.

For both current standings and archived standings there's usually a means of indicating if a line has been changed with the last update. For example this year they've been using an Orange background. Some years they use a plus symbol. Be sure to click on the "REFRESH" Button (or hit F5) on your browser to get the latest version of these (or any other page).

This year I have one more step in my process. Once, I've checked all the archived log files, and checked the Current Standings, I'll check the GPS page. This is especially useful for long runs.

MULTIMEDIA: Previously Iditarod.Com had a page with links to a variety of "Multimedia (Audio, Video, and Photos), including one to the LIVE FINISH VIDEO. It appears that may only be available if you pay the $20 membership fee. Otherwise, your best bet to see a finish is to open one of the Nome Web Cams at http://www.guilliam.com/alaska.htm (with a slightly larger view of the top cam at: http://home.gci.net/~cityofnome/nomecam.jpg), another at: http://nomecvb.com/nomecam/  or two that are probably out of date: http://www.nomealaska.org/vc/camimage/704x480.html, (or alternatively: http://www.nomealaska.org/vc/camimage/nomecam.jpg) and also (no others found yet) and click refresh (or F5) periodically. If you are lucky you might catch a musher at the finish line. If you plan to print an image, I'm quite sure you have to do it before the images refreshes, even though it hasn't yet refreshed on your screen. Other Web Cams: http://www.eaglesnestcam.com/ (may not work),  http://www.akmining.com/webcams.htm,
 McGrath Web Cam - Click on the image to get a larger picture, and http://akweathercams.faa.gov/sitelist.php

I've found that some multimedia sites use a variety of programs and that it varies by year. Some of the Media Programs include: The Adobe Flash add-in, the "Real Player", the "Windows Media Player", Apple QuickTime, and iTunes. I used iTunes for some "Podcasts". It may also depend on what multimedia defaults you have set on your computer. Here's a link that may test your Adobe Flash or click here for another one. Windows Media Player is the required program for some sites and is another must. Click Here for a Windows Media Player test. (At least it was for me) A few sites require QuickTime Video. CLICK HERE for a short test of this feature. CLICK HERE for an MP3 stream. Last year it played in iTunes for me, and this year it played with Real Player. Additional information on various multi-media players, including download sites, is found at: http://kska.org/listen-now/
If your already have these media players installed I recommend that you open each program and select the "Help" option and the "Check for Updates" (or similar) option. Note that you want to do an "UPDATE" and NOT an UPGRADE. An upgrade is almost always a new program and is usually not free.

CLICK HERE for a possible list of some of the Iditarod TV broadcast times. (None listed as of 09Mar2010).

TIME: Note that most of the above sites use Alaska Standard Time which is -9 from Universal Coordinated Time and -2 hour from my time zone, Mountain Standard Time. The following is a link to current Alaska Time: http://www.time.gov/timezone.cgi?Alaska/d/-9 (Hit F5 to update the time.)

MAPS: To best interpret these sites, a map is essential. There are several web sites with maps. Note that normally there's a map for even years, the "North Route", and another for odd years, the "South Route". Note that 2003 was completely different, starting in Fairbanks.
 Here's a version of the OFFICIAL MAP and an Alternate Official Map (These have both the Northern and Southern Routes and they also have the re-start in Willow). From now on the official re-start is at Willow. Previously the official re-start was supposed to be in Wasilla, but had to be in Willow (or Fairbanks in 2003) for most of the recent races due to low snow. Changes from the old official route have the trail going directly to Yentna, and by-passing Knik. Note that the miles from Anchorage to Willow (or Anchorage to Wasilla in previous "normal years) are only "ceremonial miles". The actual race previously started at Wasilla; or Willow. Some descriptions will still give the old mileage from Wasilla. Previously I listed the "official" mileage from Willow to Yentna as 45 miles, but I've also seen it listed as 42 miles. However the current GPS site lists 39.8 and another site lists either 52 or 66. The GPS site lists completely different mileages for most of the checkpoints, so caution is advised. I'll see what they use in the race archives.
More maps:
IDITAROD TRAIL MAPS & DESCRIPTIONS:
 The Interactive Iditarod 2008 Map has a nice display with links to descriptions, etc. Except for the list of Mushers it should be reasonably correct for 2010. Click on a checkpoint for a description and mileage.
 Anchorage Daily News Iditarod Map. You may need to click on the map to get rid of the list of mushers. When you click on a checkpoint you get a brief description of the checkpoint and a list of the mushers that have made it to that point. I did have trouble getting this feature to display properly. Click back on the map to see the rest of the map or additional checkpoints.
 Anchorage Daily News 2008 Iditarod Map. I left this one in because it has a somewhat less cluttered display. Most info should be applicable.

 Weather Underground Interactive Map with links to the current weather at many of the checkpoints. It still shows the start at Wasilla then going through Knik before reaching Yentna otherwise apparently accurate. Has a clear display and the weather is a nice feature.
 The Ultimate Iditarod Trail Map - Click on the "Click Here For a Larger Version of Map" to get a Large Scale Map. Then click on checkpoints for trail descriptions. Note that the re-start is still listed as Wasilla; otherwise it has good brief descriptions.

 TRAIL DESCRIPTIONS: Its fun to read up on the description of the trail. Be sure to have the map in front of you.
 Here are the Trail Checkpoint Mileage's & Descriptions. Notice that a map and checkpoint list for the Northern Route (even numbered years) and another for the Southern Route (odd numbered years) are shown. In these tables, click on the desired checkpoint for Don Bower's trail description. Note that the route has been changed from Wasilla to Knik to Yentna. The trail starts at Willow and goes to Yentna, by-passing Knik. See additional comments in the map section, above. Previously I determined the mileage from Willow to Yentna is to be 45 (With Wasilla & Knik eliminated.). Whether this mileage is correct of not, it's what they were using in 2005 and 2006, but I haven't verified it for 2010 yet. Previously (2006) I went to the checkpoint summaries and found that the "mileage" to Willow was 70 and to Yentna 115. I subtracted to get 45. This was also confirmed in previous "Current Standings" reports by multiplying the hours traveled by the speed and finding that all were within a tenth of a mile of being 45.

The Iditarod Interactive Map lists the mileage from Willow to Yentna as 42. Click on a checkpoint for a description and mileage. Also note the elevation profile at the bottom. The VIRTUAL TRAIL FLY-BYs page looks interesting. It has links to videos from over trail flights. However you need to be an Iditarod Insider to view these. The price is $19.95.

Cabelas used to have extensive Iditarod information. Most of it's gone. HERE'S their only Iditarod Page. CLICK HERE for an MS Word document with trail descriptions. I was looking for Joe Runyan's descriptions. I'm not sure if these are the ones or not. These seem to be somewhat abbreviated. Joe Runyan was a commentator for Cabelas and later followed by Jon Little. Jon also had reports on the Iditarod pages for a few years. Currently quite a few of the posts on Dr. Tim's Pet Food Blog are by Jon Little.

 Additional Maps and Trail Descriptions:
 The Team Norway Map (Northern Route) lists the miles to the next checkpoint when a checkpoint is clicked. (Sometimes I had to hit the F11 key in order to navigate.) Note that, like almost all maps, the change to the Willow restart is not accounted for...
 The Team Norway Map (Southern Route)

 Check out the Scolastic.Com Even Number Year Iditarod Map it say's it's accurate for 2010. Click a couple of times to activate the 1st map section. Here's their Odd Number Year Map (1st section) (for 2009). These maps are ultimately in 3 sections. Click on a checkpoint for a brief description and mileage and continue to middle and last sections of the trail. These have been adjusted for the Willow re-start. (See comments above Re. mileages.)
 The Ultimateiditarod Trailnotes Page has a description and mileage for each checkpoint. This uses the "Wasilla - Knik route.

 CLICK HERE for 2010 RACE RULES. This is the link that often settles arguments about the race.
 CLICK HERE and CLICK HERE for past awards and record holders. Quite a few of the "awards" are not listed. They have 2009 awards, but don't hold your breath for 2010.

 To see WEATHER at some of the checkpoints go to the WEATHER CENTER page or see the map with weather (above).
 The following site should (?) give approximate SNOW DEPTHS if you know the trail locations: http://maps.wunderground.com/data/640x480/2xak_snow.gif. This link came from the Team Norway Site. Go to the "Weather" section on the right side of the page for this, and other weather related links. Also note the Weather Underground Interactive Map. Here's another Snow Depth Map - note that it lists actual depths at a few places of interest including McGrath, Galena, and Nome.

OTHER SITES:
 ALASKA PUBLIC RADIO NETWORK (APRN) IDITAROD SITE has text and audio reports in previous years these were excellent! Click Here for an alternate site with the same or similar reports. Some of the reports say "Play Now" or "Download". I found that after clicking the link I had to wait for another button to come up that said Download to Real Player. Once downloaded, I had to hit "Play" and then I got a good recording. However all the current available recordings seemed to be for 2009, although there were text reports for 2010. I'll check again later. The following appears to be for 2009, I'll leave it in for awhile in case they update it: Alaska Podcast Show.

CLICK HERE for a link to listen to KSKA Anchorage Public Radio On-line. Click on one of the "Listen On-line" links to the right of center, or select the "Learn More" link just below for information on and links to several media players. On 09Mar10 I was unable to get this to work.

 The "ULTIMATE IDITAROD" WEB SITE. Doesn't have any 2007+ information, but they do have some historical info.

 The Dogsled Dot Com Site has a little 2010 info. I'll leave the link in for awhile.

Here are some other sites that look promising:
 Josh Rogers' Iditablog Site - Looks good. Has some good links. Check out the Podcasts and the links to trail webcams. Previously he had a good summery of up to date info.
 The Crow Village Iditarod Blog.
 The Northern Lights Iditarod Page - Has some 2010 info.

IDITAROD TALK FORUMS (or Bulletin Boards) allow you to ask or answer questions (type written):
Cabela's used to have the best talk forum. I found that the forum was a good source of extra or more current information in some cases than from the "regular" sites. Most of the folks that were on Cabelas forum have moved to the following two forums:
Bering Strait School District (BSSD) Iditarod Talk Forum. Especially check the:  2010 IDITAROD LINKS - Websites, Blogs, Webcams, FB & Twitter topic.
Iditarod.Com Talk Forum. Check this site's  2010 Iditarod Links - Websites, Blogs, Webcams, FB, Twitter topic to see if there is any difference.

The Sleddog Central Racing Talk Forum: has a few topics related to the Iditarod. Go to the Iditarod Coverage Topic.
You can read messages in all of these, but to send your own message or to reply to a message, you must first "register" with a user name and password.

 BIOGRAPHY OR "MUSHER" SITES: (Also see "Individual Musher Web Sites" section, below.)
Depending on what you're after, one may be better than another:
 Iditarod.Com has at least one site that lists the mushers with links to biographies. One site is the IDITAROD MUSHERS SITE with a list which includes: Bib #, Last Name, First Name, Sex, City, State, Country, Status (Rookie/Veteran). You can sort by any column by clicking on the column heading. Click a second time to sort in the opposite order.
 Here's the Anchorage Daily News (Picture) list of mushers - Click on a picture to get more data for a given musher.

NEWS MEDIA IDITAROD LINKS:
 http://www.adn.com/iditarod/ - The Anchorage Daily News (ADN) Iditarod site is an Excellent Site - a must view site with good articles and GOOD PHOTOS. Now you must register with your name, address and email. I felt it was worth it.

CLICK HERE for a Yahoo Sports search of the 100 most recent articles or CLICK HERE for Yahoo Iditarod News.
USE THIS YAHOO LINK FOR PHOTOS:
A site similar to the above Yahoo site is the following Google Site: CLICK HERE for a list of the 100 most recent.
The Yahoo Dogsledding Events Page is quite out of date, but I'll leave it for awhile longer.

Alaska Public Radio Network (APRN). (See comments in a previous paragraph.).
* Another site is the KTUU TV Iditarod Site.
Also the Alaska Superstation TV Site.
 CLICK HERE for the Alaska Superstation ABC "Webcast". It's fairly short, and a good way to check out your Windows Media Player.

 CLICK HERE for a list of Iditarod articles at the KTVA TV web site. (Sorted by date).

 Click Here for KMBQ Wasilla, AK Radio. The best coverage might be at the start of the race. Otherwise listen to the music.

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - Iditarod section.

Other Misc. Iditarod Links:
 This site really appealed to me (Has neat photos) - The Rohn Roadhouse Web Page.
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iditarod Wikipedia detailed history of the Iditarod race.
 Nome Alaska Visitor Center - Iditarod Page.

 PBS Iditarod Programs & Links: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/sleddogs/ - Has some good general information and history.

INDIVIDUAL MUSHER WEB SITES: (Primarily top ten contenders that have current reports.):
http://www.ididaride.com/ - Mitch Seavey's site. Mitch was the 2004 winner.
Check out Jeff King's 2010 Team Page and some of the links. Also Jeff Kings Blog Page has up to date info.
Martin Buser's Page seems to be up to date. Martin holds the record for the fastest winning time.
 http://www.deedeejonrowe.com/ - Dee Dee Jonrowe is a very popular musher, a cancer survivor. Here's her site.

Cliff's Iditarod Spreadsheets & Other Data:
Last year (2005) I made a summary of the second half race standings. I'll provide a link in case someone is interested and/or to make it easier to edit in case I decide to do the same this year. The pages are as follows:
 CLIFF'S HOW TO TAKE A 2010 IDITAROD VIRTUAL TOUR - Gives instructions and links to Iditarod Standings Summaries or go directly to them with the next link. Not completely updated for 2008, but will still provide instruction.
CLIFF'S 2010 IDITAROD - ARCHIVED STANDINGS SUMMARIES This is now usable but not up to date past Tuesday morning.

Printing and Editing Instructions:
If you are using this file from the Internet, it will work as stated in the introduction, but you may want to save it on your hard drive. To save this file, make sure that it's saved as an HTML file with an ".htm" or ".html" extension (suffix). You can then double click on the file name and your web browser will launch. You can also launch your browser and then open this file (Using File, Open, Browse, etc.). Click on any of the following links as described above.

Note: If you print this out and try to type in any of the above URLs you should not include the period that's at the end of most lines. Periods are added to make the "spell checker" work better.

The 2010 updates were done on MS Office 2003 MS Word. It would probably not be easy to edit this file without that program, or later versions. If you have that program, then within MS Internet Explorer Version 5 or later, you can select "File" and "Edit with Microsoft Word". Other Browsers and other word processors will vary as to commands. Note that you cannot line up or space words with the space bar or with tabs in an Internet document. You can insert a "Nonbreaking Space" as was done here, or you can use Tables to accomplish this. In most MS programs you can make a Nonbreaking Space by pressing the ALT Key and with the Number Pad, type 0160. In MS Word you can also just type CTRL-SHIFT-SPACEBAR. Save the document periodically, then go back to the Browser version, and hit the Refresh Button to see your changes.

Web Site Statistics:
This file was created in March 2000, updated in March 2001-2007, and on March 2008 I checked all links and they worked, except as noted. Please email or call me if you have some good sites not listed here.

Web Location

http://home.custertel.net/~ckeene41/iditarodlinks.html

Last revised on web: 2/

03/10/2010 00:03 PM

Previously revised on web:

03/04/2008 21:15 PM

Home Page Location

http://home.custertel.net/~ckeene41/

Contact:

Email is: ckeene41-b4 followed by an @ and then yahoo.com
 (Cliff Keene, 1405 Tendoy Ave, Salmon, ID 83467)

2/ Normally items added since the previous revision are marked with an "*", but it was not done this time. Corrections to existing links are not considered new.