IDITAROD INTERNET WEB LINKS – edited for 2008
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. Note, an asterisk "*" indicates a change since 03/09/2007 (not yet complete).
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, just hit the back button and click on the link again or 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 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”.
The OFFICIAL IDITAROD WEB SITE is: http://www.iditarod.com/# .
Other starting pages include the: IDITAROD
SITE MAP
Another good link is the Iditarod Race
Coverage Page.
I've listed a few of the better "sub-pages" on the next few lines:
The Latest Press Releases are found at the “FOR PRESS” SITE. Note that these
are only the "official" releases and in the past they've been
significantly lacking. In addition other news releases and discussion can be
found at the Eye On The Trail Page
or the Eye On The Trail 2008
Archive Page, and the Internet News Digest Page.
Although designed for kids, the Zuma’s
Paw Prints page sometimes has unique information. Previously, to find
narrative information as to how the race is going, I found that the
"ADN", and previously the Cabelas, and Ultimate Iditarod sites had
better news. However there is no Cabelas site and the Ultimate Iditarod does
not appear to be updated for 2008. Fortunately some of the reports that were on
the Cabelas site are now on some of the Iditarod.Com pages. Here are a couple
of my current favorite non-Iditarod.Com sites for news or discussion: 1. Anchorage Daily News (AND) Iditarod
News. 2. Josh Rogers' Iditablog Site – a
new site to me, but I was impressed. 3. Alaska
Public Radio Network (Aprn) Iditarod Site. The Look below for other sites.
*A new feature that really looks good is the GPS Tracking Site. If you click
on the Checkpoints Tab you’ll get a list of the checkpoint mileage from Willow.
However when I compare this mileage with other pages I get a big difference.
We’ll need to see which miles are used in the race standings. Also Click
Here for a description of this feature. I think the GPS “Checkpoint Miles”
are probably a “little off”, but they may be closer to the actual miles than
the traditional miles. I did note that the traditional miles for Nikolai are
277 (using 45 from Willow to Yentna), the GPS Checkpoint Miles are 218.4 and
the Miles for two mushers that are listed as being at Nikolai are 236 Rohn has
a traditional 202, GPS of 161.9 and one musher at Rohn has 165. The traditional
miles from Rohn to Nikolai are 75, GPS CP miles are 56.5 and the difference
between two mushers is 71. I wish I’d checked this sooner. The last musher with
a GPS is now at Rohn, so I can’t check the earlier CPs.
*Another new page is the Discussion
Forum Page. One of the best “Threads in this forum is the 2008
Iditarod Links - Websites, Forums, Webcams, Etc. page. Also check out the 2008
Iditarod Links - Websites, Forums, Webcams, Etc. 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 2008 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 Previous 2008 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 2008 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. (Currently on March 4, I’m a little behind in getting the spreadsheet set up.) In addition to the date and time and a link to the actual log-file page, I will add 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. Please note that although they were doing a good job in following the leaders last year, they had problems with those in the back of the pack. They often showed all mushers as having left a given checkpoint only to have those some mushers listed as still being at that checkpoint in the next log-file. It was almost like there were several copies of the standings and all copies are not being updated at once. I can’t say if the same will occur in 2008. However this is the 2nd year since at least 2004 that they have made the log-files available this promptly. Yea!!!
This year I will 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.
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).
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.nomealaska.org/vc/camimage/704x480.html,
(or alternatively: http://www.nomealaska.org/vc/camimage/nomecam.jpg)
or http://www.guilliam.com/alaska.htm
(with a slightly larger view of the top cam at: http://home.gci.net/~cityofnome/nomecam.jpg),
or (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/kska-listen.html
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 list of some of the Iditarod broadcast times.
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.
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. Currently the “official” mileage
from Willow to Yentna is 45 miles. The GPS site lists completely different
mileages for most of the checkpoints, so caution is advised. We’ll see what
they use in the race archives.
More maps:
IDITAROD TRAIL MAPS & DESCRIPTIONS:
Interactive Iditarod
2008 Map. Click on a checkpoint for a description and mileage.
Anchorage
Daily News Iditarod Map. Brief descriptions below the map.
* Weather
Underground Interactive Map with links to the current weather at many
of the checkpoints.
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 has good brief descriptions.
Map & Trail Descriptions (originally from Cabelas):
The Northern
Trail Distances Table is a handy reference, except for not showing the
Willow Re-start. (Caution, these are not the
“official miles”.
The Southern Trail Distances
Table similar to the above, but shows the route for odd numbered years.
On either the above tables, click on one of the checkpoints to get Joe
Runyan's detailed description.
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. I
can’t find a map for the modified route from Willow. See my comments in the map
section, above. Previously I determined that the mileage from Willow to
Yentna is 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 2008 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. I can’t find the maps for the modified 2003 route
which started in Fairbanks.
The Iditarod Interactive Map lists
the mileage from Willow to Yentna as 42. Click on a checkpoint for a
description an mileage. Also note the elevation profile at the bottom.
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. I
couldn’t find their map for the Southern Route, but this is still useful for
the later part of the race.
The Team Norway
Map (Southern Route)
The Scolastic.Com
Even Number Year Iditarod Map for 2006 & 2004. Click a
couple of times to activate the 1st map section. Here’s their Odd
Number Year Map (1st section) (for 2005 & 2007). 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 not been adjusted for Willow re-start.
The Ultimateiditarod
Trailnotes Page has a description and mileage for each checkpoint.
CLICK
HERE for 2008 RACE RULES. For some reason I can’t find a list of the
planned awards for 2008.
CLICK HERE and CLICK HERE for past
awards and record holders. Quite a few of the “awards” are not listed. They
have 2007 awards, but don’t hold your breath for 2008.
Here’s Team
Norway Site’s list of 2007 Awards, which is fairly complete. You can see
what to look for this year.
To see WEATHER at some of the checkpoints go to the WEATHER CENTER page.
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:
This category used to include my favorite site, the CABELAS IDITAROD SITE
which had excellent race narratives by Jon Little. Although the Cablelas site
is no more, Jon Little’s narratives can be found HERE at Iditarod.Com.
Previously I rated the TEAM NORWAY SITE as a MUST VIEW SITE! Their commentaries were excellent! Sadly, I can’t find any in English this year. Let me know if I’m missing something.
Previously I enjoyed ROXY WRIGHT'S REPORTS at: the RAMY BROOK DOGYARD SITE and the RAMY BROOKS.COM SITE. Currently there doesn’t seem to be anything about 2008. I’ll check a few more times before deleting the link.
ALASKA PUBLIC RADIO NETWORK
(APRN) IDITAROD SITE has audio reports these were excellent! Click
on the links that have an icon that looks like a speaker. There’s also a
link to the APRN IDITAROD
PODCAST SITE. It still says 2007, so I don’t know if it’s current or not. I
subscribed in 2007 and downloaded and played a podcast, but couldn’t see any
difference from the on-line Audio links. Here’s the Sleddog Podcast Site. I’m not sure if
some of the podcasts are the same as the previous site. Ditto for the 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. There may
or may not be links to race related information and if you “listen on line it
probably won’t be race related.
The "ULTIMATE IDITAROD" WEB SITE. doesn’t have any 2008 information, but they do have some historical info.
The Dogsled Dot Com Site improved last year from previous years. We’ll see how they do this year. Mostly links to other sites.
Here are some new sites that look promising:
* Josh Rogers' Iditablog Site
– This looks good. I think I’ll make a regular stop to his site. He seems to
have a good summery of up to date info.
The Crow
Village Iditarod Blog.
* The Northern Lights Iditarod
Page – Has some good 2008 photos.
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 this forum have moved to the
following two forums:
Bering Strait School District
(BSSD) Iditarod Talk Forum. Especially check the: 2008
Iditarod Links - Websites, Forums, Webcams, Etc. topic.
Iditarod.Com Talk Forum. Check
this sites 2008
Iditarod Links - Websites, Forums, Webcams, Etc. topic to see if there is
any difference.
The Sleddog
Central Racing Talk Forum: has a few of the topics relate to the Iditarod. Go
to the Iditarod Coverage Topic.
The Dogsled.Com
Talk Forum doesn’t seem to have anything current. Not worth a visit IMHO.
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).
http://www.news-miner.com/. - Fairbanks Daily News-Miner newspaper has some Iditarod articles.
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.
http://www.nomealaska.org/vc/iditarod.htm
- The Nome Iditarod site. Has some good general information.
http://www.bjlake.org/id2.html
- Has good photos from previous years. Nothing current.
http://www.carrottop1.blogspot.com/
- A WeBLOG of a 2005 trip to the Iditarod, nothing current.
http://sunhusky.com/ - Go
to their PHOTO ALBUMS
PAGE to see some excellent picture and their Blog Page.
http://www.workingdogweb.com/Iditarod.htm. - - Mostly historical info. Several links out of date.
http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/iditarod/. Primarily aimed at children. Has historical info. Click Here for their 2008 page, and HERE for an interview with Iditarod author Gary Paulson. Has audio clips.
CLICK
HERE to go directly to the Versus (formerly Outdoor Life Channel) Iditarod
Page including the 2008 show schedule.
CLICK HERE to
see the Iditarod TV schedule.
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.
TEAM NORWAY
site. See comments above.
http://www.huskyhomestead.com/ -
Jeff King's site. Not much new on the main site but Jeff Kings Blog Page seems to be
up to date.
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 2007 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 2008
IDITAROD - ARCHIVED STANDINGS SUMMARIES This is now usable but not up to
date past the first few archives.
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 2008 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 |
|
|
Last revised on web: 2/ |
03/04/2008 21:15 PM |
|
Previously revised on web: |
03/09/2007 01:55 AM |
|
Home Page Location |
|
|
Contact: |
Email is: ckeene41-b4
followed by an @ and then yahoo.com |
2/ Items with an "*" were added since previous revision. Corrections to existing links are not considered new.
