text: Most people resist change and when competition is involved change is inevitable.  If you want a slower, more traditional race then run the Yukon quest. Mitch and Dallas have changed the way the race is run and have proved that they can win with teams that haven't been pushed to the edge but that would continue down the trail if the race was even longer.  It isn't just resting dogs in the sled, they also train year round! Most mushers are used to taking the summers off and it takes a lot of effort to figure out how to exercise dogs in the summer.  Also mushers like nick petit, who wasn't resting dogs in his sled, almost caught them so the resting dogs isn't the only way to win. Iditarod isn't going to slow down and if you want a camping trip where you build fires in the wilderness and cook the beaver you just killed to feed your dogs then start a new race.  There are plenty of other races to run or you can run Iditarod knowing that your not going to be in the top 30.