Iditarod’s ‘Father,’ 80, Getting Ready for Another Go

The Iditarod is not what it used to be, says its founder, Joe Redington. Too fast. Too impersonal. Too competitive.

But none of that will keep him away--at age 80--from the race’s 25th running.

A crusty old dog who seems to have changed less over the years than the race itself, Redington plans to be at the starting chute in Anchorage to compete in his 20th Iditarod.

His last race was in 1992, when he placed 41st among 63 finishers. Every year since then, he has guided tourists along the 1,150-mile route after the racers have passed.

Redington treats advancing age like just another rough stretch of trail, mushing on through with a good-natured grin. So he gets cold more easily? He piles on more clothes. So he’s going deaf? He plugs in a hearing aid.

“I feel good,” he says, a bit too loudly. “Can’t hear that plain, but I feel good.”

Alaskans have learned better than to doubt him. When Redington organized the first Iditarod in 1973, the historic gold-rush trail hadn’t been used for 40 years. He promised racers a $50,000 purse but still didn’t have a dime in the bank by the time mushers left for Nome.

Running the Iditarod, Redington has cracked ribs twice, collapsed a lung and caught pneumonia. He says the race has cost him all his money and most of his time, but he quickly adds that he has no regrets.

Well, maybe one:

“I was 57 when I raced my first Iditarod in 1974,” he says. “I’d like to have had a shot at this darn thing when I was 30.”