Here’s my favorite. So far. From the Portland UI

Tomorrow, is the start of the Alaskan Iditarod, signaling the start of the American Urban Iditarod Season. Here are all the known versions of the Iditarod. Listed below are the cities and the first year of the event

San Francisco 1994 -

Portland 2001 -

New York 2004 -

Chicago 2006 -

Los Angeles 2007-

Phoenix 2007-

Cincinatti 2008-

Former Events awaiting revivial

Seattle 2006

Washington DC 2008

San Diego 2007

I have been silent long enough. From this blog I will share the story of how The Original San Francisco, Urban Iditarod was founded, by me - Tundra Tommy.

The short version is that a friend and I wanted to create a Cacophony Society event in San Francisco. We had no constraints on what that event might be like, and somehow, at the end of some evening, the concept of an “Urban Iditarod” was born.

I researched the Alaskan Original, even calling Nome for tourist information about the event. They sent me a nice info pack through the mail and we tailored the event to mirror the original “as much as possible.” We scouted the locations, created a map, and promoted the event through the Rough Draft and via friends.

That first year, the first saturday in March 1994, as the Alaskan dogs left Anchorage for their 1,000 mile journey, 4 teams of 5 people, in various versions of doggie-ness assembled downtown San Francisco for our 3.5 mile Urban Iditarod.

Through the years the event grew primarily through word of mouth, with limited promotion, eventually expanding beyond San Francisco to at last count some 7 cities (Portland, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Austin, and Cincinnati)

What happened between March ‘94 and today is a much longer story. Stay Tuned.