Since a motley crew of 34 mushers set off from Anchorage in 1973 into the great white unknown of winter in Bush Alaska, 875 mushers and tens of thousands of dog have raced to Nome.
They've found triumph, disaster, fearsome storms and, often, a singular sporting experience unlike any other in America today.
Every musher who's started the journey from one side of the biggest state to the other has walked away with cherished memories. How else to explain why some mushers come back year after year after year, decade after decade? Jeff King, a rookie in 1981, will start his 26th Iditarod next week. Fellow four-time champion Martin Buser of Big Lake is due to start his 33rd. DeeDee Jonrowe of Willow will head north for the 34th time. Consider how many mushing memories this trio has, then pile on those of the other 872 Iditarod dog drivers.
Success is hard to achieve. Far more people have climbed Mount Everest than have completed -- or even started -- the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
Ultimate success is nearly impossible. In 43 Iditarods, there are just 20 champions.
Here are some contenders for the greatest moments in Iditarod history, but it's an incomplete list. We're asking fans to vote for their five favorites -- and, particularly, to nominate others we may have overlooked
Memorable Iditarod moments
1) Rick Swenson's record-setting fifth victory in 1991.
2) Libby Riddles' first win by a woman, accomplished by marching into a fierce Norton Sound storm in 1985.
3) Dick Mackey's photo-finish win in 1978 over Swenson.
4) Dallas Seavey's come-from-behind victory over Aliy Zirkle of Two Rivers and Jeff King of Denali Park despite a vicious Seward Peninsula storm in 2014.
5) Emmitt Peters' breakthrough 1975 title that sliced a remarkable six days off the previous best winning time.
6) The 2012 race that marked the third consecutive year without a dog death in the race to Nome, perhaps the longest stretch in race history.
7) Joe Redington Sr. finishing fifth in 1988 as a 71-year-old, after leading for part of the race.
8) The late Susan Butcher's fourth victory in 1990, cementing her position as the greatest female musher ever.
9) Joe Redington Sr. guaranteeing a $50,000 purse for the first Iditarod, even though he'd collected little of that shortly before the inaugural 1973 race began.
10) Doug Swingley of Montana winning his fourth race in 2001, making him one of the greatest mushers in history and broadening the race's appeal in the Lower 48.
11) Robert Sorlie's 2003 victory that made him the first foreign musher to win, broadening the race's worldwide appeal, especially in Sorlie's home country of Norway. This year, a record eight Norwegians are racing.
12) Lance Mackey of Fairbanks becoming the first (and only) musher to win the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest and Iditarod back to back in 2007, a feat he repeated the following year.
13) Four-time champion Jeff King donating $50,000 to the 2010 purse after race officials had reduced it in an effort to cut costs.
14) Stopping the 1985 Iditarod twice due to heavy snowfall, first at Rainy Pass when planes couldn't deliver food to Rohn, the next checkpoint, and later near McGrath when heavy snow brought the racers to a halt. Since then, a lack of snow has typically been a greater problem than too much snow.
15) Dick Wilmarth of Red Devil winning the first Iditarod in 1973, proving it could be done. And let's give a nod to the incredible persistence that same year of John Schultz, who finished last in more than 33 days -- an Iditarod record that will never be broken.
Contact Mike Campbell at mcampbell(at)alaskadispatch.com.