Millenium Hotel Headquarters 2006 Iditarod Race: for two decades, this Alaska hotel has been the center of communications and operations for the Last Great Race.

• Author: Pilkington, Steve
• Position: Alaska This Month

For nearly 20 years, the Iditarod Race and the Millennium Alaskan Hotel have forged a special partnership celebrating the race, its competitors and all those who wish to get involved in the adventure surrounding the more than 1,000-mile race to Nome. Once again the hotel is the official race headquarters for the 2006 Iditarod Race.

The Millennium Alaskan Hotel on Lake Spenard each year becomes the center of the race's Anchorage communications and operations. As information comes from the trail itself via a radio network, the latest race information is issued from a press center and the official race board, located in the lobby, is regularly updated.

"It's an outstanding relationship," said Joanne Potts, race director for the Iditarod Trail Committee. "Everybody in that hotel is wonderful to us."

This month the race begins on March 4, usually lasting nine days or more before the first musher reaches the finish line in Nome, after braving sub-zero temperatures, blizzards and conditions on the way. The race stems from the 1925 run after a deadly outbreak of diphtheria happened in Nome. Serum was ferried via mushers for hundreds of miles from the town of Nenana. The first Iditarod race to Nome was in 1973.

Millennium Hotels and Resorts is the North American arm of London-based Millennium and Copthorne Hotels. Bill Remmer, director of sales and marketing for Millennium Alaskan Hotel, said the race provides a perfect venue for the extra events that take place at the hotel.

On March 3, the day before the official race start, the hotel hosts the 6th Annual Iditarod "Fun" Raising Auction and Dinner. It has become a successful fund-raiser for the Iditarod Trail Committee.

The evening starts with cocktails around 6 p.m., followed by a special five-course dinner prepared by Executive Chef Steve England. There are both live and silent...