Live feeds and GPS: Rugged Iditarod has high-tech support

FAN Editor 5 years ago
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FILE – In this March 6, 2017, file photo, Melissa, center, and Sarah, right, Burnett, both of Fairbanks, hoist handmade signs for passing Iditarod mushers on the Chena River in Fairbanks, Alaska. The women are avid race fans, following the mushers’ GPS trackers obsessively and staying as up-to-date as possible with all race news. Technology has increasingly made the 47-year-old race more immediate to fans and safer for competitors, said Chas St. George, acting CEO of the Iditarod Trail Committee, the race’s governing board. (AP Photo/Ellamarie Quimby, File)

People are using technology to track Alaska’s Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race far from the competitors tackling the off-the-grid route.

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Fifty-one mushers as of Friday are traveling long stretches between remote village checkpoints with no other company but the dogs pulling their sleds. However, their progress is monitored from several hotel rooms in Anchorage whose 24/7 occupants are the Iditarod’s electronic eyes and ears.

Acting CEO of the Iditarod Trail Committee Chas St. George says technology has brought the race closer to fans and made it safer for competitors.

Volunteers and race contractors at the command post monitor the teams through GPS-equipped sleds that allow fans to follow them online in real time and organizers to ensure no one is missing.

Others process live video streamed from checkpoints along the 1,000-mile (1,600-kilometer) trail.

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