LU professor qualifies for Iditarod

Army Master Sergeant and Liberty University Distance Learning Professor Rodney Whaley has qualified to run the 2008 Iditarod Trail Dog Sled Race in Alaska.

He is the first Tennessean to ever enter the Iditarod, which begins March 1.

Whaley, whose brother Dr. Vernon Whaley is the director of Liberty’s Center for Worship, is teaching a 400 level religion class through Distance Learning and is a Liberty Seminary student.

Whaley began training for the Iditarod in October 2007 at Iditarod veteran Al Hardman’s Alcan Kennels on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

To qualify for Alaska’s great race, a musher must complete two sanctioned qualifying races that total 500 miles; one of which is 300 miles.

On Dec. 13 Whaley competed in the Moccasin 200, a 200-mile training run and Iditarod Qualifier across Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, where he succeeded in qualifying. In January he ran the 300-mile Seney 300 training run and Iditarod Qualifier held in Northern Michigan.

Whaley was featured in the Jan./Feb. edition of Liberty Journal magazine. That story can be found at https://issuu.com/libertyuniversity/docs/lj_jan-feb_2008/1?e=4413175/3662437.

For more on the race: http://www.iditarod.com/
Rodney’s Web site: http://www.tndogmusher.com/