Reinventing the Last Great Race: Celebrating 50 runs in 2022, the Iditarod continues to break new trail.

• Author: Joyal, Brad
• Position: TOURISM

No event shines a spotlight on Alaska in front of a global audience quite like the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race On March 5. the Iditarod begins its 50th running with a ceremonial start in downtown Anchorage. This year's conclusion of the first fifty races is a milestone being celebrated with multiple layers of significance for race officials and organizers, as well as sponsors, mushers, and the canine athletes that run across some of the most hellish terrain the Last Frontier has to offer.

The 50th running is a more traditional setup compared to the 49th last year, when the COVID 19 pandemic forced the race to introduce the "Iditarod Golden Trail Loop" route, which saw mushers and their teams travel to the ghost town of Flat before retracing their steps and finishing in Willow. This year's edition of the race will travel the Northern route all the way to the "burled arch" that marks the finish line in Nome.

"This race, the 50th race, is the most important race since the first race," says Iditarod Trail Committee CEO Rob Urbach "It's not only a big milestone and important to return to Nome, but we recognize we are at an important inflection point, we are in a race for relevence and revenue to support the race"

Although the Iditarod is steeped in history and tradition. Urbach also sees a bright, new heading for the Last Great Race that extends fat beyond Alaska "We have launched three key initiatives." Urbach announce "A streaming channel for all dog owners; an acquisition of the leading dog events company, and a crypto token, the IdilaCoin,"

Gone to the DOGZ

Even while preparing for the 50th running of the Iditarod. Urbach is focusing on ways to bring it to a new, growing audience. The Iditarod is in the process of migrating its Insider Network (a 24-hour live broadcast during the two weeks of the race) to DOGZ, a direct-to-consumer streaming video channel for dog owners. In addition to coverage of the Iditarod. DOGZ will feature tons of dog-centric content: training, genetics/breed choosing, nutrition, dog competitions, and, as Urbach states, "awesome dogs doing awesome things." Several shows are currently under development, such as The Dog Whisperer, Ask the Vet, and Dog Heroes, as is a DOGZ Film Festival.

"We both use a lot of kennels and we're knowledgeable on wellness and nutrition for dogs," says Urbach. "It's really important that we're able to have so much content and be a thought leader in dog welfare so that if extremists say we're torturing dogs, we can say, look at what we're doing, we're actually a thought leader in dog wellness and research.' We actually think we're the Mayo Clinic for dogs."

In order to launch the network, the Iditarod, which is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, first had to create a for-profit affiliate legal entity. That entity then raised $1.2 million in the form of a convertible note to complete an acquisition and provide working capital. With that capital, the Iditarod acquired DockDogs, a canine sports league based in Medina, Ohio.

Since 2000, DockDogs has produced fun events for dogs and their handlers, including Big Air, a long jump for dogs; Speed Retrieve, an Olympic-like sprint, swim, and retrieve for dogs; and Extreme Vertical, a high jump for dogs. "DockDogs, that will provide high-value content, a dog owner database to drive channel subscriptions, and valuable operating leverage to DOGZ," Urbach says.

The Iditarod CEO is also intrigued by the latest cryptocurrency and non-fungible token trends sweeping the nation and says he has plans on creating an Iditarod crypto coin that will, in addition to other recent advancements and investments, help set the Iditarod up for another fifty years of success.

"While the burning imperative is on executing this race," says Urbach, "I am super excited about the future--there is a reason the windshield is much larger than the rearview mirror. We need to evolve or we will evaporate. That's why when I wake up in the morning it's, 'How can we create a long-term endowment so we future proof and ensure the Iditarod will be running in fifty years?"

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