Beloved "Mother of the Iditarod"
January 23, 1921-November 16, 1989
How the Race Began:
It began in the 1960's with the dreams & efforts of Dorothy Page ( a history Buff) & Joe Redington, Sr. (a veteran dog musher). The objective was to draw attention to the Iditarod Trail & bring it's acceptance into the National Historic Trails System, along with reviving dog mushing & the spirit of Alaska's past.
The trail was re-opened, with the help of Aurora Dog Mushers Association in 1967 & 1969 when 100 mile races were ran from Knik. Then in 1973 the first race from Anchorage to Nome was completed (1150 plus miles) &, finally, in the late 1978 the Iditarod Trail System was accepted into the National Trail System.
Iditarod was her idea
Bill Sherwoni 3/2/83
A hem, attention class. Its time for our first Alaskan sports history quiz. Subject: the Iditarod, Alaska's long distance sled-dog race from Anchorage to Nome.
Questions No. 1: Who are the parents of the Iditarod?
The first half of this answer should be easy. Joe Redington is known far & wide as the Father of the Iditarod. But what most people don't know is that the so-called Last Great Race also has a mom.
The little-known Mother of the Iditarod is Dorothy Page. In, fact, mom came before pop. Page, a history buff who lives in Wasilla, was the one who originally came up with the idea of having a race along the Iditarod trail.
Page believed it would be nice to "pay a tribute to the musher who opened up Alaska, who were the main source of transportation in the interior during the sate's early years."
The Iditarod Trail came to mind for two reasons. First, it was a rather famous route used by mushers to bring supplies to several of Alaska's gold-mining communities such as Iditarod & Nome. Second, the trail passed through Knik, which was close to home.
Only one problem, however. Page couldn't convince anyone else that such a race would be a good idea-until she met Redington, who loved the idea & earned his Fatherhood by helping Page's idea become a reality.
*the trail 3/8/83
The Iditarod Trail originally was brushed out in the winter of 1910 & '11. One party left from Nome & went through the gold rush town of Iditarod.
Another group started at the Kern Creek railroad south of Anchorage. The two parties met on the north side of the Alaska Range near Rainy Pass, connecting Nome, through Iditarod with tidewater at Seward.
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