Oklahoman Competing in the Iditarod

[PhiAlpha]

A fraternity brother/high school friend of mine, Patrick Beall, is competing in the Iditarod this year. For those that don't know, the Iditarod is an annual 1000 mile dog sled race from Anchorage to Nome, AK that commemorates the 1925 Serum Run which was the basis for the movies and stories about Balto. As far as I know he will be the first Oklahoman to run the race and is likely one of the few from the southern US to do so. He is running a team of younger dogs for one of the more established racing teams/kennels in Alaska, so the goal will be more to finish the race than to win it, but it will be fun to follow nonetheless. Below is a story about him that aired on KOCO today. The race kicks off on March 5th.

http://www.koco.com/news/oklahoma-ma...rness/38054678

Also, as it turns out, dog racing is pretty expensive so below is link to his Go Fund Me page if anyone would like to help support his team or learn more about his journey from OK to becoming a musher.

https://www.gofundme.com/bealliditarod2016

[hoya]

That's pretty awesome.

Meanwhile, I'm starting up the Idiotarod, which is free for members of the Oklahoma Legislature. It goes 1000 miles from Anchorage to just somewhere out in the snow. We are encouraging as many participants as possible this year.