ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Cathleen Griffin usually feeds her passion for the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race through the Internet, but next week she'll travel to Alaska for the first time to see the winner cross the finish line in the old gold rush town of Nome.
"I just can't imagine being there," said the Sebago, Maine, resident. "It's something that a person only dreams about."
Most faraway fans -- and they are legion -- aren't so lucky as to be there in person for even part of the 1,100-mile race. So Iditarod buffs from around the world rely on their computers to experience the next best way to track a trail that crosses two mountain ranges then goes along the dangerous sea ice up the Bering Sea shore on Alaska's western coast.
They follow the race through the Iditarod Web site and other online venues, such as a forum provided by the Bering Straits School District. They watch footage of the race and tap Iditarod discussion forums and blogs to talk about current standings, favorite mushers, dropped dogs, love or frustration over the Iditarod's satellite team tracking system, even who could play defending champion Lance Mackey in a movie.
"Although I'm here in Maine and the Iditarod is so far away, you want to have some connection," said Griffin, who has a six-dog team herself. "To have dogs brings you so much closer to the experience."
Much of the online buzz is focused on the front-runners and speculation over who will be the first in Nome: Veteran musher John Baker, of Kotzebue, grabbed the lead Wednesday as the first musher to leave the ghost town of Ophir, more than 660 miles from the finish line. Canada's Hans Gatt, who won the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race in February, was the first to reach Ophir and was followed by Cim Smyth, of Big Lake, but Baker beat them all out. Mackey, of Fairbanks, was running 14th in his attempt for a fourth consecutive win.
The jockeying for the lead remains fluid until mushers begin taking a mandatory 24-hour layover and two eight-hour rests, keeping fans hovering over their computers. At least a couple dozen mushers were taking their 24-hour stop in Takotna, considered by many to be one of the friendliest villages along the trail and renown for the feast Jan Newton has headed up since 1974.
Students across the nation study the race in school programs incorporating various subjects, including math, science and language arts. At Summit Christian School in West Palm Beach, Fla., computer lab teacher John Frizzell uses the Iditarod to teach elementary school students how "the Internet is the best outlet for some events in our world."
Students watch videos from the Iditarod site and practice working with numbers and other data. Each class also gets to choose a competitor they believe will win.
"Of course, Lance Mackey is now the musher that ALL the classes want to pick," Frizzell said in an e-mail.
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