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You will probably get the most information by reading the Pro class rules at this link: http://www.irondog.org/wp-content/uploads/Iron-Dog-2014-Rules-Pro-Final.pdf

The riders are in teams. They ride the same machines so these guys have to be great at “wrenching” ... lots of repairs take place on the trail. BOTH riders have to cross the finish line - if one is towing the other, that counts! Interesting things happen - one year, a team broke down & some spectators had a similar machine ... a part was pulled off that machine and put on the racer’s machine ... so there is now a rule “Participants are prohibited from accepting parts, safety gear, fuel or oil from anyone, except at official Iron Dog checkpoints and as provided in 13.2.”

There are various check stations along the route - you can check out the map that will be used during the race at this link: http://www.irondog.org/race-category/pro-class-checkpoints/ The “layover” times are in the rules - for example, northbound to Nome, Up to four (4) Layovers will be required Northbound. Three layovers will be fixed at eight (8) hours each and a flexible layover at (6) six hours for a northbound total of thirty (30) hours. Flexible layover may be used on its own in Skwentna, Puntilla, Rohn or McGrath. A layover of 6, 8 or 14 hours is REQUIRED in McGrath. The first 14 hours of layover MUST be taken before
leaving McGrath. What repairs/when you can do them is also controlled. Some of the teams with “high power” sponsors can afford to have their own plane fly parts/gear, etc. to them at various checkpoints - most of the small towns have some sort of airport. Either last year or the year before, one of the planes went down with a fatality & another severe injury, so even being a support crew can be dangerous.

Once they get the GPS going, you will see the team numbers showing up on the map (or at least that is how it’s been in years past). A change in the rules - Participants must install units for optimum performance as directed. Todd Palin & his partner have been “famous” in years past for having rare or no GPS signal (units packed up in their gear? who knows!). Now the GPS unit has to be in brackets mounted on the sleds so the satellites can pick them up.

Nome is the halfway point - lots of major repairs take place there ... btw, repair time is part of their total time. They get a 15 minutes off the clock to check out their snowmobiles and figure out what repairs/parts are needed, then when they start wrenching, it’s on the clock.

There are two “classes” ... Trail and Pro. I think the Trail just goes to Nome, with Pro doing the entire course. Todd Palin is Pro class. You are considered a ‘rookie’ until you have finished an Iron Dog.

Read through the FAQs at this link - it will answer a lot of questions .... http://www.irondog.org/faq-category/general/

This page has the checklist for the racers (you’ll be surprised at the gear they carry ... then again, in Alaska, you have to Be Prepared!). Also there are the rules, etc. which will give you additional info. http://www.irondog.org/racer-checklist/

I hate to admit how involved I get - even keep my own spreadsheets on teams and times. Year before last, one of the teams crashed - I saw the GPS stop moving & figured they’d had a breakdown, then word started filtering in about the crash. One of the racers was badly hurt & had to be airlifted out ( a whole village & their nurses helped get him off the trail & stabilized). I sent him a FB message that he was in my prayers .... actually got a thank you note back a couple months later with the update that he had a full recovery, which was terrific to hear.

Warning - Iron Dog can be addictive!!! If you think of anything else (this is the ‘shotgun’ approach - I’m just blasting you with a lot of general info), let me know and I’ll do my best to point you in the right direction or find the info for you. :-)