Author’s Note
There is no “Minitrod” race; it is pure fiction and also unlikely that an adult would ever compete with the younger racers. There is a Junior Iditarod, but not a lot of other “name” events for junior racers. Many of the young adults start out in sprint races, the short, fast ones with much smaller teams, races that are over in an hour or two. Then after they turn eighteen, which is the minimum age for the major races in the mid- and long-distance circuit, the serious ones move up. I also took some liberties with other aspects of the sled dog racing community but tried to keep these as minimal as possible.
I recently spent several weeks at a kennel just outside of Fairbanks and borrowed freely from those experiences. I’ve also visited the kennels of several well-known racers
