The Iditarod is commemorating a desperate rescue attempt that was only undertaken because thousands of people stranded in Nome would die without medicine. Nobody in their right mind would have done that trek otherwise.
There must be other ways to recognize that achievement without nearly recreating it each year, without all the dangers that went with the original emergency.
As far as other pieces of Americana going away, I would compare this to recreating of the a dozen trail rides that precede the launch of the Houston Livestock and Rodeo Show each year. That event uses animals too, horses to be specific, on a series of nearly month-long journeys from various parts of Texas.
One difference is that the horses are not run hard in extreme conditions. They don't even work as hard as horses did on the original trail rides that brought the cattle in. Still, it's getting more difficult to organize these rides as they rely more and more on busy highways and roads.
-PJ
“There must be other ways to recognize that achievement without nearly recreating it each year, without all the dangers that went with the original emergency.”
Agreed. I’m surprised that the medicines weren’t flown-in and air-dropped into Nome.