D'ANTOINE Webb, 14, is already a winner in this year's famed Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. His essay about the 1,150-mile Alaskan competition won a Baltimore Police Athletic League contest -- and earned D'Antoine a ride on the sled of investment adviser Dan Dent, who made his debut Sunday in the 10-day test. But Mr. Dent, the 57-year-old Baltimorean in only his fourth dog sled race, was an even bigger winner. Though forced from the race by dog bite injuries this week, Mr. Dent's attempt has inspired lots of local kids to pursue their dreams.

He thought up, and funded, the PAL contest. He paid his own way to race, aiming to raise $500,000 in pledges and a lot of publicity for PAL, which runs after-school programs for 7,000 boys and girls.

Along the trail, so to speak, Mr. Dent sparked interest among area schoolchildren in Alaska and the sled race. Not just in Baltimore, where PAL centers monitored his daily progress over the Internet, but also in other counties, where Mr. Dent provides a local point of focus for the Anchorage to Nome race. In schools where students pick a racer to follow in the Iditarod as a class project, the rookie musher from Roland Park was a surprisingly popular selection.

After an Alaskan dogsled vacation four years ago, Mr. Dent dreamed of running the Iditarod. He spent several winters training. In the solitude of a race last year, he had the idea for the Baltimore PAL project. The Iditarod honors an event in 1925 when dog teams raced 674 miles to deliver diphtheria serum to children in Nome. Children's charities have been major beneficiaries of the modern race.

But Mr. Dent's essay contest, with a required reading list, is unusual in motivating youngsters to learn and think about the Alaskan experience. The ultimate aim, he tells them, is higher than winning: "What your mind can conceive, you can achieve."

Bright Lights spotlights people who make a difference in the quality of life of this area. It appears periodically in this column.

Pub Date: 3/13/99