High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is an annual long-distance sled dog race run in early March from Anchorage to Nome. Mushers and a team of 12–16 dogs, of which at least 6 must be on the towline at the finish line, cover the distance in 9–15 days. The Iditarod began in 1973 as an event to test the best sled dog mushers and teams but evolved into today`s highly competitive race. The current fastest winning time record was set in 2011 by John Baker with a time of 8 days, 19 hours, 46 minutes, and 39 seconds. As of 2012, Dallas Seavey is the youngest musher to win the race. Seavey is the third generation in his family to race. In the race were Mitch Seavey, Dallas` father and 2004 race winner, and Dan Seavey, Dallas` grandfather and one of the organizers of the first races.