Iditarod sled dog race
The world's longest sled dog race, the 1,000-mile Iditarod from Willow to Nome, Alaska, starts Sunday, March 3, 2013. Here's a look at images from earlier races.
A historic look at the Iditarod
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)
A historic look at the Iditarod
FILE - Aliy Zirkle crosses ice on the way to the finish line in Nome, Alaska, during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on March 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Anchorage Daily News, Marc Lester, File)
A historic look at the Iditarod
FILE - Jim Lanier, of Chugiak, Alaska, drives his team through the blowing snow on the Yukon River outside Ruby, Alaska, on Saturday, March 11, 2006, during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. (AP Photo/Al Grillo, File)
A historic look at the Iditarod
FILE - Iditarod musher Don Honea feeds his dog team at Skwenta, 125 miles into the 1,135 mile race from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska on March 7, 1984. (AP Photo, File)
A historic look at the Iditarod
FILE - Canadian musher Sebastian Schnuelle drives his team across Norton Bay, March 16, 2009, near the Shaktoolik, Alaska checkpoint on the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. (AP Photo/Al Grillo, File)
A historic look at the Iditarod
FILE - Iditarod musher Hans Gatt from Whitehorse, Yukon Territory washes out his dog food trays next to the hot water barrel at the Takotna checkpoint during the 2011 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on March 9, 2011. (AP Photo/Anchorage Daily News, Bob Hallinen, File)
A historic look at the Iditarod
FILE - Musher Bill Pinkham collects hot water during his stop in Takotna, Alaska, during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Wednesday night, March 7, 2012. (AP Photo/Anchorage Daily News, Marc Lester, File)
A historic look at the Iditarod
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)
A historic look at the Iditarod
FILE - Iditarod musher Michelle Phillips, from Tagish Yukon Territory, mushes into the Yukon River village of Anvik at sunset during the 2011 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race March 11, 2011. (AP Photo/Anchorage Daily News, Bob Hallinen, File)
A historic look at the Iditarod
FILE Two mushers cross the Farewell Burn during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on March 6, 2012, in Nikolai, Alaska. (AP Photo/The Anchorage Daily News, Marc Lester, File)
A historic look at the Iditarod
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)
A historic look at the Iditarod
FILE - Dallas Seavey pulls in to the checkpoint in Unalakleet, Alaska, during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on March 11, 2012. (AP Photo/Anchorage Daily News, Marc Lester, File)
A historic look at the Iditarod
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)
A historic look at the Iditarod
FILE - One of Tim Osmar's sled dogs looks out of its pen before the start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Willow, Alaska, Sunday, March 2, 2008. A record field of 96 mushers are running the 1,100 mile sled dog race to Nome. (AP Photo/Al Grillo, File)
A historic look at the Iditarod
FILE - The northern lights are seen from Ruby, Alaska on March 8, 2012. Mitch Seavey is the first musher in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race to reach the village of Ruby, on Friday, March 9, 2012, 480 miles from the finish line at Nome. (AP Photo/Anchorage Daily News, Marc Lester, File)
A historic look at the Iditarod
FILE - Mac, one of Jeff Holt's sled dogs, peeks out of its box as he waits to join the team and begin the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Willow, Alaska, March 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Al Grillo, File)
A historic look at the Iditarod
FILE - Two of Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race rookie Lori Townsand's dogs play as they wait their turn for the pre-race checkup, Feb. 28, 1996, at the Iditarod headquarters in Wasilla, Alaska. (AP Photo/Al Grillo, File)
A historic look at the Iditarod
FILE - Iditarod musher Peter Kaiser, from Bethel, Alaska, races from Safety to the Nome, Alaska finish line of the 2011 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, March 15, 2011. (AP Photo/Anchorage Daily News, Bob Hallinen, File)