AP PHOTOS: The Iditarod, past and present

AAA??Mar. 3, 2013?9:01 AM ET
AP PHOTOS: The Iditarod, past and present
By The Associated PressBy The Associated Press, Associated Press??

Dogs on the team of Anna Berrington run in the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Saturday, March 2, 2013, in Anchorage, Alaska. The competitive portion of the 1,000-mile race is scheduled to begin Sunday in Willow, Alaska. (AP Photo/Dan Joling)

Dogs on the team of Anna Berrington run in the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Saturday, March 2, 2013, in Anchorage, Alaska. The competitive portion of the 1,000-mile race is scheduled to begin Sunday in Willow, Alaska. (AP Photo/Dan Joling)

Ramey Smyth's dogs prepare at the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Saturday, March 2, 2013, in Anchorage, Alaska. The competitive portion of the 1,000-mile race is scheduled to begin Sunday in Willow, Alaska. (AP Photo/Anchorage Daily News, Bob Hallinen)

Four-time Iditarod champion Jeff King drives his dog team down 4th Avenue during the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Saturday, March 2, 2013, in Anchorage, Alaska. The competitive portion of the 1,000-mile race is scheduled to begin Sunday in Willow, Alaska. (AP Photo/Anchorage Daily News, Bill Roth)

Michael Williams, Jr., greets fans along Cordova Street during the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Saturday, March 2, 2013, in Anchorage, Alaska. The competitive portion of the 1,000-mile race is scheduled to begin Sunday in Willow, Alaska. (AP Photo/Anchorage Daily News, Bill Roth)

A lead dog licks four-time champion Martin Buser during the ceremonial start of the 2013 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Anchorage, Alaska on Saturday, March 2, 2013. The race, which will take mushers and dog teams about a thousand miles across the Alaska wilderness, starts Sunday, March 3, 2013, in Willow, Alaska. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

The competitive part of world's most famous sled dog race, the Iditarod, starts Sunday in Willow, Alaska, 50 miles north of Anchorage. The race teams leave the big crowds behind for remote terrain shared mostly with their dogs on a grueling 1,000-mile trek through unpredictable wilderness to the old gold rush town of Nome. Whoever reaches Nome first wins a new truck and $50,400. The next 29 mushers to cross the finish line will split rest of the $600,000 purse.

Here's a gallery of pictures spanning more than 30 years of "The Last Great Race."

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Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-03-03-Iditarod-Photo%20Gallery/id-515f07e03fef46d2964753f0be0eaa32

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