Top Five Anti-Iditarods

From coast to coast, cities are hosting alternatives to the cruel Iditarod—which began yesterday and will cause dogs to suffer and some even to die over the next two weeks. But in these entertaining events, no dogs will be paying with their lives. Check ’em out:

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1. Pennsylvania’s Cedar Ridge Wild and Wacky Cardboard Sled Derby combines creativity with a ton of duct tape.
2. Costumes, carts, and charitable contributions come together to make participants in Utah’s Urban Iditarod all winners.
3. Barking humans lead the charge in Portland’s version, and they must negotiate through the “unrelenting and unforgiving dangers” of the city’s urban, er, frontier. Boston racers refer to themselves as “doggies.”
4. Chicago’s Chiditarod is one part food drive, one part pub-crawl, one part costumed race, and all parts fun.
5. The Idiotarod, whose participants are most definitely not idiots, is a shopping-cart race with themed floats and costumed runners tearing through major cities, including New York City. Sabotage and spreading false route information is encouraged.

Let the “real” Iditarod sponsors know that until they pull their support from this cruel race, you won’t be patronizing their businesses―you’ll be supporting one of these cool and cruelty-free races instead.