Ultimate Iditarod for Kids

I'm Jim Gallea. I live in the Rocky Mountains of Montana, where my parents, Bill and Cindy, and my younger brother, Brian, operate Snowcrest Racing Sled Dogs. Our kennel currently has just under 50 adult Alaskan Huskies plus 18 cute puppies!!! We spend a lot of our time every day caring for, feeding, and training our dogs.

This year, I am training 28 of our dogs for the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Alaska. The Iditarod is the world's longest sled dog race at about 1,100 miles in length. That's like traveling from New York to Miami by dog sled! Training is a lot of work because we want to make sure that the dogs are in tip top shape before we head out across Alaska in the race, which begins in March.

I am going to college at the University of Montana until the end of this month. Training for the Iditarod AND going to college is too much for me alone to do, so my family has been very important in helping to get the dogs ready to race.

To get everyone thinking like "mushheads", I've put a bunch of pictures on this page for you to look at. If you want to see a larger version of the picture, click on the picture. Use the "Back" button in the upper left corner of your web browser to get back to this page. You can also read more about this year's training and see additional pictures by reading our training updates.

*Remember to click on the picture of you want to see a larger version. Use the "BACK" button to return to this page.*

Cindy Gallea trains a team this fall using a four-wheeler. Four-wheelers take the place of dog sleds when no snow is on the ground.	This is me driving a 14-dog team on a training run. An Iditarod team has 16 dogs, and is about the length of a school gymnasium.	The Rocky Mountains of Montana make an excellent natural training grounds. The trails are often old logging roads.	This is a self portrait I took one day when we were on a muddy training run. Once I got used to the grit between my teeth, it was lots of fun.

This is Crackle. She is a 2-year-old dog that we have raised since she was a puppy. Crackle's mom and dad have both finished the Iditarod.	We love it when the snow arrives! The four-wheelers are not nearly as fun to drive as the sleds are. Imagine a 2-hour roller coaster ride!	This is what things look like from behind the sled. The musher stands on the runners on the back of the sled where he or she can use the brakes and lean to steer the sled.	This is my dad, Bill, at the start of the 1996 Iditarod in downtown Anchorage, Alaska. Thousands of people watch the teams start.

This picture was taken near the summit of Rainy Pass. Rainy Pass is the point where the teams cross the Alaska Mountain Range.	Despite crossing mountains, the teams also run on flat, desolate trail. This is my team on the mighty Yukon River, which is up to two miles wide and very boring!	The dogs have very thick, warm fur coats that keep them warm in even the coldest temperatures, but we also put coats on the dogs while they are sleeping.	This is the top of "Little McKinley," a tall hill on the coast of the Bering Sea. From the top, you can see back along the Iditarod Trail for a hundred miles.

Teams sleep on straw beds at the checkpoints along the trail.	Orion's whiskers are frosted over while he waits quietly at the Finish Line in Nome. Orion led Cindy across the finish line in 2001.	This is Cindy stopping her sled at the finish line in the 2001 Iditarod. She finished 38th place with a time of 12 days and 20 hours.	My mom, Cindy, is pretty tough. She hit a tree with her head, but kept right on going. However, she did have a nice pair of black eyes.

© 2001 Ultimate Iditarod, Snowcrest Racing Sled Dogs, Seavey's Iditarod Racing Team
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