OK, maybe we won't keep as close tabs on this year's Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race (starts Sunday) as last year's. Then again, maybe we will.
Clarke Lachlan of Buena Vista is competing again this year.
It'll be much easier for all of us to follow the race because 20 veteran mushers in the 36th running of the 1,100-mile race will be outfitted with technology used to track oil-pipeline inspection tools. We can watch their progress online.
“Basically, it winds up looking like a video game but it’s a way to watch a representation of an event that’s happening many thousands of miles away — in real time,” Jerry Miller with IonEarth, a satellite race tracking company based in Traverse City, Mich., told the Associated Press.
You can see where teams are along the trail, along with speed, direction, altitude and temperature. And you can choose views - three-dimensional, aerial - that show past images of the actual terrain.
Not all mushers are happy about it, though. Some fear such instant information can ruin their race strategies.
Bill Pinkham of Glenwood Springs and Kurt Reich of Divide already have withdrawn from the race.
2 comments:
The Iditarod race I'm following closely is going on this week with mountain bikers, skiers and runners. I wouldn't mind the distance but the cold seems a bit much for me.
Go Lach!
He was one of my high school teachers.
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