Jersey native rides first 11 miles of Iditarod

My assumption that all weird news has ties to New Jersey proves true once again with the start of the Iditarod this year.

Garden State native Susan Benson mushed the first 11 miles of the 1,000 mile Alaskan dogsled race as an "IditaRider" Saturday. The opportunity came after she and her husband Victor won one of the event's major fundraising efforts, the IditaRider auction.

In exchange for their winning bids, IditaRiders are invited to a pre-race banquet and assigned a "musher" to meet and ride with during the start of the race, according to the Iditarod website.

Benson rode through downtown Anchorage with rookie musher Lev Shvarts (bib 40), who held position 39 of 78 at the first checkpoint on Monday morning.

The trek "commemorates a 1925 rescue mission that delivered diphtheria serum by sled-dog relay to the western coastal community of Nome, site of the finish line of the 43rd annual event," according to Reuters.

This year contestants will take a new route, after one of two traditional paths was deemed unsafe. Warm temperatures have also created concerns about ice strength along the trail's water crossings.

The winner will receive $70,000 and a pick-up truck, with other top finishers receiving prizes from a $725,000 pool.