Jay Butan, DVM, has owned and operated the Canal Animal Hospital in Lake Worth, Florida, since 1989. In addition to providing the Lake Worth community with caring, compassionate veterinary services, Jay Butan, DVM, has spent 10 years as a trail veterinarian for the Iditarod.

1. AN OVERVIEW
OF THE
IDITAROD TRAIL

2. PRESENTATION TITLE
Jay Butan, DVM, has owned and operated the Canal
Animal Hospital in Lake Worth, Florida, since 1989.
In addition to providing the Lake Worth community
with caring, compassionate veterinary services, Jay
Butan, DVM, has spent 10 years as a trail
veterinarian for the Iditarod.
The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, typically referred to
simply as the Iditarod, is a sled dog race that was
first run in 1973. At 1,049 miles, it is the world’s
longest annually contested sled dog race. It is also
one of the most challenging, with humans and dogs
experiencing weather conditions as extreme as -100
degrees Fahrenheit temperatures.
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3. The Iditarod route has long maintained a
traditional start in the city of Anchorage.
That said, an official restart of the race
takes place about 80 miles north of
Anchorage in the city of Willow. The
restart was moved from Wasilla to Willow
in 2007, as Wasilla had failed to produce
enough consistent snowfall.
From Willow, the Iditarod trail moves on to
the Alaska Range’s Rainy Pass before
reaching the shores of the Bering Sea.
The trail concludes in the city of Nome on
Alaska’s western coast. With the
exception of these three cities, the route
primarily travels over rugged, unpopulated
terrain.
PRESENTATION
TITLE
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4. The route actually harkens back to a time long before its official start in 1973,
when a 1925 diphtheria epidemic threatened the children of Nome. The only
medicine for the disease was found in Anchorage, more than 1,000 miles away,
and the only means of obtaining and conveying the medicine was by sled. While it
was a collective effort involving several mushers and dog teams, Gunner Kaassen
and the now famous Balto arrived just 6 days after departure with the medicine in
tow. As of 2021, the record time for running the official Iditarod solo was 7 days,
14 hours, 8 minutes, and 57 seconds.