<P> Page moved from New Mexico to Alaska in 1960 . She then became the president of the Wasilla - Knik Centennial Committee in 1966, and was in charge of coming up with an event to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the purchase of Alaska from Russia . In her own words, the self - described "history buff" wanted "a spectacular dog race to wake Alaskans up to what mushers and their dogs had done for Alaska ." </P> <P> Page saw her first dog sled race in 1960 . At the time, nearly every household in the rural Alaska Bush and Interior had a team of sled dogs for transportation . During the 1960s snowmachines started to replace the dogs, which all but vanished . The historic Iditarod Trail that passed through both Wasilla and Knik was an ideal stage . Dog mushing had been the primary means of communication and transportation in the Bush and Interior by Alaska Natives for centuries; remained so for the Russian, American, and French Canadian fur trappers in the 19th century; and reached its peak during the gold rushes of the late 19th to early 20th centuries . </P> <P> Page was unable to get the support of a single dog musher until she met Joe Redington, Senior (the "Father of the Iditarod") at the Willow Winter Carnival . Redington used dog teams to perform search and rescue for the U.S. Air Force, and owned a large kennel . He also had been lobbying to make the Iditarod Trail a National Historic Trail since the 1950s . Redington agreed to lend his support to the event, on the condition that a purse of USD $25,000 be divided among the winners . </P> <P> The money was raised . In February 1967, 58 dog mushers competed in two heats along a 25 - mile (40 km) stretch of the old Iditarod Trail between Wasilla and Knik . The race was modeled after the first large dog sled race in the state, the 1908 to 1918 All - Alaska Sweepstakes (AAS) of Nome . The official name of the event was the Iditarod Trail Seppala Memorial Race, after the three - time Sweepstakes champion Leonhard Seppala . While Seppala was most famous for participating in the 1925 serum run which saved the city of Nome from a diphtheria epidemic, according to Page "Seppala was picked to represent all mushers...but it could just as easily have been named after Scotty Allan" (the founder of the AAS). </P>

Who is known as mother of the iditarod and why