Dear Mr. Swenson,

We are a 4th grade class from Falls Church, VA. We have been watching you throughout the 2002 Iditarod race. It has been fun to watch you along the race by using the Internet. We were able to find out daily updates and then we told the rest of the school over the intercom each morning.

Congratulations on coming in 19th place this year. We admire your racing skills very much. Our class thinks that you deserved the sportsmanship award. It must be a great honor to receive this award. How does a musher receive this award? Is it because you helped someone else along the trail?

Even though you did not come in first place, we think that you did an excellent job. We are just proud of you for finishing the Iditarod race. What an accomplishment!

There are several questions that we would like to ask you:

-Did you bring a camera? If so, please send us pictures?
-Why is it that you race each year in the Iditarod?
-Have you ever seen the Northern Lights while racing? How about a moose? What other types of wild animals have you seen?
-Do you prefer the Northern or the Southern route?
-What are your dog's names? Are they strong? Do they have different personalities? Did you have to change a lot of booties on your dog's feet during the race? If so, how many and what color were they?
-When you traveled through the burn, did you hit any stumps?
-Did you ever feel lonely during the race?
-What is your favorite checkpoint?
-Were you ever lost and if so, how many times?
-Have you ever experienced frostbite in any of the races?
-Have you ever kept a diary during the race?
-What is the first thing you do when you finish the race?

We have some pieces of advice for you. We have read Gary Paulsen's book Woodsong. After reading the book we have a better idea of the race and want to encourage you to race again next year. In addition, we think that starting the race slower and then speeding up will prevent your dogs from getting too tired too quick.

Keep training early and never give up. One more thing we would like to remind you of is to keep enough batteries with you for your headlamp. It has been very exciting for our class to have you as our musher this year. We want to congratulate one more time on your accomplishments and we hope that you will race again next year.

Until the 2003 Iditarod, keep training and good luck!

Miss Schuitema and her fourth grade class