In the profound words of Urban Iditarod founder Tom Kramer, 'You’re not supposed to get here fast. You’re supposed to get here drunk.'
Kramer went as far as to reach out to Nome, Alaska, from where organizers sent him pamphlets with Iditarod rules. As a result, concrete plans, rules and regulations came together, mirroring those of the actual race. Instead of sleds, it was shopping carts. The team of a dozen or so dogs was instead a group of four humans — plus a “musher” — who would dress up and act as canines, complete with woofs and howls, while they were harnessed to the"sled.
Naturally, the Urban Iditarod wasn’t quite as arduous as the 938-mile Alaskan trek. This race was just about 3 miles, beginning near the cable car turnaround station at Fifth and Powell, traveling through the tourist-heavy parts of Union Square, Chinatown and Fisherman’s Wharf, and eventually ending in Fort Mason.
“It’s not mandatory to drink, but it helps … Personally, I never go more than a half-mile without having a beer,” Kramer said in 2001. Depending on where he started drinking, that’s five to seven beers over 3 miles. The first race happened in 1995, and just 20 people on four teams competed. One year later, not only had participation doubled to eight teams, but word had traveled around enough to warrant coverage
. Stories about the race ran in newspapers across the country, with headlines like “Urban Iditarod: It’s no Alaska, but ‘it ain’t no walk in the park,’” in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
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