The 2007 Iditarod kicked off this weekend with a ceremonial start in Anchorage, Alaska…and a former Bismarck resident is competing. Heather Siirtola is number 59 this year and local media are following the story. My friends Tony and Kris, whose blog is linked on the right panel of your screen (if you’re not reading the syndicated version) moved from Bismarck to Anchorage a while back and are no strangers to the race. Tony told me that local reporting is misleading in that the start from Anchorage is more of a ceremonial one; they restart at Wasilla later on for the full-bore race. But you can’t trust local media to be thorough, can you?

I’m guessing this is pretty darn big news up there in Anchorage. It sure would be a blast to be able to jet up there and follow along, but I’ll leave it to Tony and Kristie to do that for me. You can view their website by clicking on this link or the blog link under “North Dakota Blogs” on the right panel of my blog. By the way…if you’re reading this on a syndicated site, you’re missing out. The pictures are larger on my site, there are no ads, and the end of the text doesn’t get chopped off!

One more thing: Heather Siirtola has a website at Hardcore Huskies dot com, and you can view her Iditarod profile by clicking here.