Two of Canadian musher Sebastian Schnuelle's dogs take a break at the Takotna, Alaska, checkpoint during the 34th Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Wednesday, March 8, 2006. Some 84 mushers, including 20 rookies, are taking part in the world's longest sled dog race, which runs from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska.
Five-time Iditarod champion Rick Swenson, of Two Rivers, Alaska, runs his team through Takotna, Alaska, during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Wednesday, March 8, 2006. On day four, four-time Iditarod champion Doug Swingley was leading the race to Nome.
Iditarod veteran and breast cancer survivor Dee Dee Jonrowe fixes her sled at the Takotna, Alaska, checkpoint during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Wednesday, March 8, 2006. Competitors in the world's longest sled dog race pass through 24 checkpoints en route to the old gold mining town of Nome, where top finishers usually arrive in nine to 10 days.
Norwegian musher Trove Sorensen's dogs sleep under blankets during a rest stop at the Takotna, Alaska, checkpoint during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Wednesday, March 8, 2006. The race has two mandatory eight-hour breaks and one 24-hour break.
On day four of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, Ramy Brooks, of Healy, Alaska, adjusts his ski pole as he leaves the Takotna, Alaska, checkpoint on Wednesday, March 8, 2006. Top teams normally finish the race in nine to 10 days.
Iditarod Day 5: Halfway Mark
One of Norwegian musher Tore Albrigtsen's dogs tries to wake up after a cold night at the Takotna, Alaska, checkpoint Thursday, March 9, 2006.
Lance Mackey, of Kasilof, Alaska, leaves the Takotna, Alaska, checkpoint of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Thursday, March 9, 2006. The tortuous endurance race commemorates a dog sled relay in 1925 that carried serum 674 miles from Nenana to Nome to stop a diphtheria outbreak.
Four-time Iditarod champion Doug Swingley, of Lincoln, Mont., gives one of his dogs a snack during his 24-hour mandatory rest at the halfway checkpoint of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race at Cripple, Alaska, Thursday, March 9, 2006.
One of Jessica Hendricks' dogs licks the frost from its face after arriving at the Takotna, Alaska, checkpoint of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, Thursday, March 9, 2006. Takotna residents greeted arriving mushers in the 79-team field and shoveled dog waste and straw as dog sleds came and went in near zero-degree temperatures.
Aaron Burmeister, of Nenana, Alaska, yells at his team to go as he leaves the Takotna, Alaska, checkpoint of the Iditarod on Thursday, March 9, 2006. A 4-year-old dog in his brother Noah Burmeister's team died on Thursday. Noah carried Yellowknife in his sled into the Rohn checkpoint Tuesday. The dog was flown to Anchorage and died in a hospital. Pneumonia is the suspected cause of death.
Four-time Iditarod champion Jeff King drives his dog team along the trail near the halfway checkpoint of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Cripple, Alaska, on Thursday, March 9, 2006. Cripple is an unpopulated tent checkpoint on the Innoko River. King was leading the 1,100-mile race.
Iditarod Day 6
Iditarod veteran and 1975 champion Emmitt Peters, 65, right, toasts Paul Gebhardt, of Kasilof, Alaska, for being the first musher to reach the Yukon River checkpoint of Ruby, Alaska, on the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race early Friday, March 10, 2006. Gebhardt was rewarded with a seven-course gourmet dinner cooked by an executive chef on a camp stove and $3,500 in cash by the Millennium Alaskan Hotel.
Iditarod Day 7
Eskimo kisses? Musher Fabrizio Lovati, of Italy, talks to his dog Hammer during a rest stop at the Yukon River village of Ruby, Alaska, during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Saturday, March 11, 2006. Eight mushers have scratched from the race.
Brian Mills, left, of Merango, Wis., tries to catch one of his dogs, which jumped out of his sled as he and Peter Bartlett, of Wasilla, Alaska, drove their teams through the blowing snow on the Yukon River outside Ruby, Alaska, Saturday, March 11, 2006, during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
One of Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race musher Hans Gatt's dogs tries to get out of the wind by hiding under another dog as they wait to leave the Ruby, Alaska, checkpoint of the race Saturday, March 11, 2006. The winner is expected to reach Nome either late Tuesday or early Wednesday.
Iditarod Day 8
Three-time Iditarod champion Jeff King, of Denali Park, Alaska, runs his team up a hill outside of Unalakleet, Alaska, Sunday, March 12, 2006, as the Iditarod Trial Sled Dog Race reaches the Bering Sea coast. King was the first musher out of Unalakleet and is currently leading the 1,100-mile sled dog race.
Iditarod Day 9
Sonny Lindner, of Two Rivers, Alaska runs his team through Shaktoolik, Alaska, as he arrives in the Bering Sea village during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Monday March 13, 2006. Top teams in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race will likely reach the old gold rush town of Nome, on Alaska's western coast, by late Tuesday or Wednesday.
Bjonar Andersen, of Oslo, Norway runs his team across the ice out of the Shaktoolik, Alaska checkpoint on the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Monday March 13, 2006. Three-time Iditarod champion Jeff King of Denali Park, Alaska is currently leading the 1,100-mile sled dog race, followed by Doug Swingley.
Three-time Iditarod champion Jeff King of Denali Park, Alaska, right, talks with four-time Iditarod champion Doug Swingley, of Lincoln, Mont., as they take their eight hour mandatory rest in White Mountain, Alaska, Tuesday, March 14, 2006, during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. King is currently leading the 1,100-mile sled dog race followed by Swingley.
Three-time Iditarod champion Jeff King of Denali Park, Alaska, runs his team up a ridge outside of White Mountain, Alaska, during day nine of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Tuesday, March 14, 2006.