Akiak Corrected

JOURNEYS
A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.

Lao-tzu (604-531 B.C.E.)
Running the IDITAROD
Every March teams of sled dogs run the world-famous Iditarod race.
The course covers more than 1000 miles of rugged Alaskan trails.
Teams of up to sixteen dogs pull a sled carrying their musher, or
driver, who works closely with the experienced lead dog.
Because it can be dangerous, the Iditarod has many rules to make

sure the teams reach the end of the race safely. Racers, both
animal and human, are required to rest often as well as to sign in at
many checkpoints along the way.
In the story you are going to read, a special racer struggles to

overcome the odds and to make the most of her last chance at an
Iditarod victory.
AKIAK
DAY ONE
Akiak knew it. The other dogs knew it too.

Some had run it many times and others had never run it at all. But
not a dog wanted to be left behind.
It was Iditarod Race Day. 1151 miles of wind, snow, and rugged trail
lay ahead, from Anchorage to Nome. Akiak had led the team
through seven races and knew the trail better than any dog. She
had brought them in fifth, third, and second, but had never won.
She was ten years old now. This was her last chance. Now, they
must win now.
Crack! The race was under way. One by one, fifty-eight teams took
off for Nome.
DAY TWO
“Come on, old girl, show them how,” Mick called. “Haw!”
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Mick worked the sixteen-dog team through Akiak, calling “Haw!”
when she needed the dogs to turn left, and “Gee!” to go right. Mick
was the musher, but the team followed the lead dog. The team
followed Akiak.
Through steep climbs and dangerous descents, icy waters and
confusing trails, Akiak always found the safest and fastest way. She
never got lost.
DAY THREE
Akiak and Squinty, Big Boy and Flinty, Roscoe and the rest of the
team pounded across the snow for three days. The dogs were ready
to break out, but Mick held them back. There was a right time _ but
not yet.
High in the Alaskan range they caught up to Willy Ketcham in third
place. It was his team that had beaten them by just one minute last
year. Following the rules, Willy pulled over and allowed Mick`s team
to pass.
“That old dog will never make it!” he laughed at Akiak across the
biting wind.
“She’ll be waiting for you at Nome!” Mick vowed.
DAY FOUR
High in the Kuskokwim Mountains they passed Tall Tim Broonzy’s

team and moved into second place. Just after Takotna, Mick’s team
made its move. They raced by Whistlin’ Perry’s team to take over
first place.
Ketcham made his move, too. His team clung to Mick’s like a
shadow.
Akiak and her team now had to break trail through deep snow. It
was tough going. By the Ophir checkpoint, Akiak was limping. The
deep snow had jammed up one of her pawpads and made it sore.
Mick tended to her as Ketcham raced by and took first place from
them.
“You can’t run on that paw, old girl,” Mick said to her. “We’ve got to
go without you. You’ll be flown home.”
Roscoe took Akiak’s place at lead.
DAY FIVE
By morning most of the other dog teams had passed through the
Ophir checkpoint. The wind was building and the pilot was in a
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hurry to leave. Akiak tore at the leash as the volunteer brought her
to the airplane.
“Get that dog in,” the pilot hollered. “I want to get out of here
before the storm hits!”
Akiak jumped and pulled and snapped. All she wanted was to get
back on the trail. To run. To win. Then all at once, the wind gusted,
the plane shifted, and Akiak twisted out of the handler’s grip. By the
time they turned around she was gone.
DAY SIX
Akiak ran while the storm became a blizzard. She knew that Mick
and the team were somewhere ahead of her. The wind took away
the scent and the snow took away the trail, but still she knew the
way. She ran and she ran, until the blizzard became a whiteout.
Then she could run no more. While Mick and the team took refuge
in Galena, seven hours ahead, Akiak burrowed into a snowdrift to
wait out the storm.
In the morning the mound of snow came live, and out pushed Akiak.
DAY SEVEN
Word had gone out that Akiak was loose. Trail volunteers knew that
an experienced lead dog would stick to the trail. They knew she’d
have to come through Unalakleet.
She did. Six hours after Mick and the team had left, Akiak padded
softly, cautiously into the checkpoint. Her ears alert, her wet nose
sniffed the air. The team had been there. She could tell. Suddenly
cabin doors flew open. Five volunteers fanned out and tried to grab
her. Akiak zigged around their every zag and took off down the trail.
“Call ahead to Shaktoolik!” a man shouted.
DAY EIGHT
At Shaktoolik, Mick dropped two more dogs and raced out, still six
hours ahead of Akiak.
Hungry now _ it had been two days since she had eaten _ Akiak
pounded over the packed trail. For thirst, she drank out of the
streams, the ice broken through by the sled teams.
She struggled into shaktoolik in the late afternoon. Three men
spotted her and chased her right into the community hall, where
3
some mushers were sleeping. Tables overturned and coffee went
flying. Then one musher opened the back door and she escaped.
“Go find them, girl,”he whispered.
At Koyuk, Akiak raided the musher’s discard pile of food. No one
came after her. At Elim , people put food out for her.
Almost everybody was rooting for Akiak to catch her team.
DAY NINE
Mick rushed into White Mountain twenty-two minutes behind

Ketcham. Here the teams had to take an eight-hour layover to rest
before the final dash for Nome. Mick dropped Big Boy and put
young Comet in his place. The team was down to eight dogs with
seventy-seven miles to go.
Akiak pushed on. When her team left White Mountain at 6 p.m.,
Akiak was running through Golovin, just two hours behind. A crowd
lined the trail to watch her run through the town.
DAY TEN
Screaming winds threw bitter cold at the team as they fought their
way along the coast. Then, halfway to the checkpoint called Safety,
they came upon a maze of snowmobile tracks. The lead dogs lost
trail.
Mick squinted through the snow, looking for a sign. There. Going
right. She recognized Ketcham’s trail.
“Gee!” she called. Gee _ go right.
But the dogs wouldn’t go. They wandered about, tangling up the
lines. Mick straightened them out and worked the team up the hill.
At the top they stopped short. Something was blocking the trail.
“Akiak!” Mick called.
She ran to her usual spot at the harness, waiting to be hooked in.
“Sorry, old girl.”Mick hugged her. “Rules say I can’t put you back in
harness. Get in the sled.”
But instead, Akiak circled the lead dogs, pushing them and barking.
“What is it, girl?” Mick asked.
Akiak ran back down the hill.
Mick laughed. Ketcham’s team had taken the wrong trail! She
turned her team around and rushed them down to Akiak, who
jumped into the sled.
“Take us to Nome!” Mick called to her.
Mick first heard the noise a mile outside of Nome. At first she wasn’t
sure what it was. It grew so loud that she couldn’t hear the dogs. It
was a roar, or a rumble _ she was so tired after ten days of mushing
4
she couldn’t tell which. Then she saw the crowd and she heard their
cheers. People had come from everywhere to see the courageous
dog that had run the Iditarod trail alone.
As sure as if she had been in the led position, Akiak won the
Iditarod Race.
“Nothing would stop this dog from winning,” Mick told the crowd.
Akiak knew it.
The other dogs knew it too.

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JOURNEYS

A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.

Running the IDITAROD

Because it can be dangerous, the Iditarod has many rules to make

In the story you are going to read, a special racer struggles to

Akiak knew it. The other dogs knew it too.

High in the Kuskokwim Mountains they passed Tall Tim Broonzy’s

Mick rushed into White Mountain twenty-two minutes behind

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