Two days before the ceremonial start of the 2015 Iditarod, 78 mushers gathered for a welcome in a hotel conference room in Anchorage, Alaska.
In among the sweatshirt, bivy sack and other pre-race swag given to the mushers is a small but very important notebook: the vet book. It is in this notebook that a team of volunteer veterinarians stationed along the trail’s 18 checkpoints will document careful notes about every single dog that passes through every checkpoint.
The Iditarod is a race, so the big prize is a first-place finish. But according to most mushers and volunteers, there’s a trophy that’s even more special: the Leonhard Seppala Humanitarian Award, presented by Alaska Airlines.
“I believe that other than winning the Iditarod, this award means more to the mushers than any other award,” says Marilyn Romano, Alaska Airlines’ regional vice president in the state of Alaska. “I’ve only ever seen two standing ovations at the Iditarod: one is for winning the race and one is for the Leonhard Seppala award.”
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