The Toughest Guys on Earth

As February is the official "don't talk about you-know-who" month I will refrain from using a certain characters name. It is however, a woman who lives in Wasilla, AK and the name starts with "S"--enough said.
So anyway, "S" was recently quoted on some news show that she feels the Irondog participants are the "toughest guys on earth", forgive me if I get the exact wording wrong. But I do get the message--she feels that men racing around on snowmachines (snowmobiles for the lower 48) are as tough as they come....Well maybe this is something you say when your own husband is one of the monkeys riding around and you need to stroke his ego...but I disagree.
True enough, that compared to most lower 48 inhabitants--who freak out if a snowflake hits their stylish hair---participating in a 2,000 mile cross country snowmachine race in arctic conditions, scores pretty high in the "man pants category". However, did Mrs. "S" forget about the Iditarod??
The Iditarod follows the same course as the IronDog (actually those pesky snow machines help break trail for the doggies) but obviously a musher with dogs plods along a lot slower than a machine that can go about 80mph. Not to mention that the Iron Dog participants travel in pairs to help each other out (?) while mushers are only allowed to hang with their canine companions. Same weather conditions, but you are in it sooo much longer with the dogs (and responsible for more lives). Or how about the difference between filling up a snowmachine with gas vs. feeding 14 sled dogs a hot meal and rubbing their feet with ointment? There is also a little known fact about sled dog racing--some folks may choose to stand on the runners or even sit in the sleds--but there are a whole bunch of mushers who RUN behind their dogs for substantial portions of the 1,200 mile race, to lighten the load. That's right RUN. Try running behind your snowmachine !

So my vote goes to the many tough men (and women!!) of the Iditarod, for doing what I feel is the hardest, craziest sport in the western hemisphere!