The air was cool, but not cold, and the snow was slushy instead of pristine.

Anchorage in early March felt a lot like Indianapolis to five students from Crestview Elementary, who were in Alaska for the start of the 2005 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Most of the students were prepared for the roar of the crowd as thousands of people cheered the 79 mushers and their dog teams as they moved their sleds up to the starting line. Every two to three minutes, a new team pushed off on the 1,171-mile journey to Nome, using a route similar to that used by dog teams in 1925 to bring serum to sick children during a diphtheria epidemic.

Founded in 1973, the Iditarod is the most famous sled dog race in the world. Hundreds of huskies and their trainers start arriving in Anchorage in late February to prepare for the race, which starts on the first Saturday in March. Many teams train for years for the grueling course through the wilderness.

Crestview students Allie Ball, 10, Piper Inglis, 10, Jesse Buckshot, 11, Jacob Lyons, 11, and Grace Cummings, 8, along with teachers Kimberly Beal and Regina Young, attended the race this year. The students were members of the Lawrence Township school's Iditarod Club, sponsored by Beal, who has long had an interest in the race.

"I like the dogs, and I like the way that the dogs will make it 1,100-something miles," said Jacob.

The 11 students in the after-school Iditarod Club learned about all aspects of the race. They researched the history of the Iditarod, the composition of a dog sled, care and training of the dogs and the geography and climate of Alaska, among other facts.

Club members also shared what they learned with other Crestview students. They made a model dog team out of paper and posted it in the cafeteria, labeling the responsibilities and characteristics of each dog's position. They also made four posters for the library on Iditarod facts, musher facts, dog facts and Alaska facts. And they made a wall map of Alaska, outlining the Iditarod trail, with information about each checkpoint.

Behind the scenes, Beal was looking into taking a group to Anchorage. Working with private donors and funds from an account for extracurricular activities, Principal Brenda Wolfe raised most of the money to cover expenses.

The students had to go through a lengthy application process. They had to include a writing sample and be interviewed by a group of teachers and administrators.

"They asked us to write a story about a vacation that we'd been on. . . . And then they interviewed the people, and we got picked," said Allie.

While they were all excited to go, none of them liked the plane ride. "It was very, very bumpy and scary," Piper said.

The students arrived in Anchorage with enough time to spare before the start of the race to attend ceremonies like the mushers' banquet. There, they interacted with many of the mushers, including Robert Sorlie of Norway, who would go on to win the race.

"There was a long line of people, and the mushers would come through and sign autographs," Grace said. "So you kind of got to meet them."

The banquet, held two days before the start of the race, is also where the mushers learn their starting positions.

"They come up on the stage and draw a number and that's the number they'll take off on, like at the start and the restart," Grace said.

Actually, the race has two starts. The initial start is a ceremonial run in which each team carries an extra person, called an Iditarider, to the first stop. Iditariders bid for the privilege of riding with a musher. Beal was an Iditarider in 2004.

The teams and Iditariders go 11 miles to the first stop, where the Iditarider gets off and the teams rest for the night. The next morning, the teams take off, in the same order that they did the day before.

The students reached a new understanding of the Iditarod.

"When the dog sleds and the teams came in, we got to see the sleds packed and everything, and they had tons of stuff," Allies said. "And they had snowshoes too -- I'd never seen those in my life. And the dogs were all hyper. They're like, 'Let's go!' "

The children visited sled dogs in their kennels and even went on a four-mile sled dog ride.

All agreed that that was their favorite part of the trip, although it wasn't problem-free.

"When the dogs were running, they kicked snow up behind them into our faces," explained Jesse.

They also learned a lot about mushers and their dogs.

"We found that the mushers actually cook for their dogs," Grace said. "They'll feed the dogs before they feed themselves. And they have to cook it -- it's like a stew, so it'll have different types of meat and protein in it."

She added that the mushers must mix the stew with lots of hot water "because if they just put half a bowl of water in, it'll freeze because it's so cold."

The students especially liked interacting with the dogs, which they found to be friendly.

"One of the owners of the kennel actually let all the dogs off their chains and we got to play with them," Jacob said.

However, the kids would take their cues from the owners.

"You'd have a dog standing right next to you and if they weren't petting it, you really shouldn't pet it," Jacob added.

The students also did a little sightseeing in Anchorage, including a visit to the Imaginarium, a science discovery center, and an art gallery and studio.

Every night they wrote updates, which they posted on a Web site for the Indianapolis students. Those students kept track of the race, posting the top 10 mushers each day and the most recent checkpoint of the lead musher.

Most of the students said they would return to see the Iditarod again.

"It is a really great experience. I'm not done yet, and I really liked going dog sledding," Jesse said.

Piper, on the other hand, had had enough. "I'm not sure if I would go back because it kind of got boring after a while."

While they learned a lot about dogs and mushers, they learned a little bit about themselves, too.

"I learned how to be a better writer because every day we had to write in our journal," said Grace.

REPORTERS: Chris Blackburn, 13; Becky Buchanan-Schwanke, 13.

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Official length: 1,049 miles -- 49, because Alaska is the 49th state. However, the actual figure varies every year, based on the route each musher takes. This year, it was 1,171.

They let the dogs out: A musher must have 12 to 15 dogs with him or her at the start of the race, and must finish with a minimum of five dogs.

What dogs wear: The dogs have special booties that they must wear when racing, in order to protect their feet from the harsh ground.

Let's go: The boot the mushers draw their bib (starting) number from is called a mukluk.

Meet the mushers: They are required to take one 24-hour rest and two eight-hour rests. They use special language when driving the dogs -- "Gee" tells the team to break to the right, "Haw" to the left. "Hike" is used to start the team; "Whoa" is used to stop it.

And the winner is: Robert Sorlie, who also won the Iditarod in 2003, was first to Nome, taking nine days, 18 hours, 39 minutes and 31 seconds. He received about $72,000 and a new truck.

Bringing up the rear: The slowest finisher was Phil Morgan, a rookie from Anchorage. He took 15 days, six hours, two minutes and 57 seconds. Three females on his dog team were in heat; the males didn't have running on their minds. "We had love on the trail," he said.

-- Sources: Scholastic, cnn.com, adn.com

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