How it Started The Iditarod is often known as the last great race on Earth, and for good reason. Historically, dog sleds have delivered mail, groceries, gold, furs, and medicine. It wasn’t until the winter of 1925, when there was a diphtheria outbreak in Nome, AK, that the long-distance relay became popular. (Alaska Geophysical) During the diphtheria outbreak, the nearest antitoxin serum was 1,000 miles away in Anchorage. Sea [...]