AP PHOTOS: A look at past Iditarod sled dog races

AAA??Mar. 2, 2013?10:17 AM ET
AP PHOTOS: A look at past Iditarod sled dog races
By The Associated PressBy The Associated Press, Associated Press??

FILE - Iditarod front-runner Dallas Seavey makes his final drive toward Nome, Alaska, during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on March 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Anchorage Daily News, Marc Lester, File)

FILE - Iditarod front-runner Dallas Seavey makes his final drive toward Nome, Alaska, during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on March 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Anchorage Daily News, Marc Lester, File)

FILE - Rick Swenson leads his team the final few yards at the conclusion of the ninth annual Iditarod Sled Dog Race in Nome, Alaska, March 19, 1981. The Eureka musher won the race for the third time, covering the 969 miles from Settlers Bay, near Anchorage, to Nome in 12 days, 8 hours, 45 minutes and 2 seconds. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Last year?s winner and veteran dog musher Susan Butcher pulls into this checkpoint in the heat of the day in McGrath, Alaska, March 12, 1987. (AP Photo/Rob Stapleton, File)

FILE - Bruce Johnson of Atlin, B.C., Canada, takes a nap in the heat of the day at Nikolai checkpoint along the Iditarod trail in Alaska, March 12, 1987. (AP Photo/Rob Stapleton, File)

FILE - The aurora borealis, or northern lights, fill the sky above the Takotna, Alaska checkpoint during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Wednesday, March 9, 2011. (AP Photo/The Anchorage Daily News, Bob Hallinen, File)

The world's most famous sled dog race, the Iditarod, kicks off Saturday with an 11-mile-long trot through Alaska's largest city, Anchorage. The race consists of a grueling 1,000-mile trek through unpredictable wilderness to the old gold rush town of Nome on Alaska's western coast. Whoever reaches Nome first wins a new truck and a cash prize of $50,400. The rest of the $600,000 purse will be split between the next 29 mushers to cross the finish line. The iconic race, however, seems to be about more than a monetary prize for most involved: a competition of human versus wild.

Here's a gallery of pictures looking back at more than 30 years of "The Last Great Race."

Associated Press
People, Places and Companies: Alaska

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-02-Iditarod-Photo%20Gallery/id-96c2470cfd2d429cae62a841f451ac51

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