The winter cold, snow and wind rarely stopped people to go outside. For some, it is, on the contrary, a native element. After all, there are places on our planet where snow lies almost all year round. It was there, on these remote ends of the Earth, in the harsh conditions of winter, that such a spectacular sport as dog sledding or sledding was born.
At first, testing dogs was a necessity, because when traveling on a dog sled, a person's life completely depends on these animals. As you know, dog sleds are still one of the modes of transport in Alaska.
A bit of history
Some people are very skeptical about this sport. However, there are historical facts that make you look at the test of dogs from a completely different angle. This happened in 1925 in Alaska in the city of Nome. By that time, Nome was the largest settlement in Alaska. But misfortune befell him. The diphtheria epidemic has claimed the lives of many children. Overcrowded hospitals urgently needed a drug - antitoxins. The only place where the serum was found was the city of Anchorage. However, the location of this city lay thousands of miles from Nome.
The task was complicated by the storm, so it was impossible to send the medicine by plane. It was decided to send the medicine by train to Nenana. But even here, not everything turned out to be smooth. Nenana is located 1000 kilometers from Nome, and the railways did not go further. The inhabitants of Nome found a way out, they equipped dog teams, selected the strongest dogs and sent them to get medicine. During the crossing, many of the dog drivers gave up and turned back because of the severe frost and wind. Ultimately, a team arrived at Nenana. The medicine was brought to Nome by 20 dog teams that followed the relay.
The very same sledding sport today has many subspecies: Skijoring - a skier and 1-2 dogs participate in it; Pulka - dogs carry sleds with a certain weight and a skier follows them, 1-2 dogs participate; Sled race - depending on the number of harnessed dogs, a class is selected. It can go away within a few days. The distance is usually from 40 km and more; Bikejoring - a cyclist and 1-2 dogs are involved; Canicross - runner and 1 dog involved.
