Iron Dog start line is flooded

Reports of standing water -- perhaps 18 inches of it -- could make things messy when 31 pro teams leave the frozen lake Sunday afternoon for the start of the 2,000-mile race across Alaska.

"The lake is flooding," Iron Dog executive director Kevin Kastner said Tuesday afternoon. "There's 18 inches of water at our start line.

"We're praying for cold weather."

Warm weather could be to blame for some overflow, but Kastner blamed most of the standing water on ice fishing holes dug on the lake over the weekend.

"There's three big holes," he said.

Kastner, who is heading to the lake today to inspect the start area at South Port Marina, said Sunday's start will happen regardless of the water.

"It could cause racers to leave a wake," he said. "That'll be interesting. But it wouldn't be the Iron Dog without something. There's water-skipping on parts of the trail, and when they get to (Farewell Burn) there'll probably be dirt and mud and no snow."

The race begins at 11:10 a.m. Sunday when the team of Anchorage's Marc McKenna and Kasilof's Dusty VanMeter hits the trail. Separately, they have claimed a combined five Iron Dog championships -- McKenna took titles in 2008 and 2005 and VanMeter won in 2000, 2002 and 2004 -- but they have never triumphed together. Last year, they placed sixth.

A new championship team is guaranteed this year because the two-time reigning champions, Tyler Huntington of Fairbanks and Chris Olds of Eagle River, parted ways and found new partners for this year. Huntington will race with Tre West III of Nome and Olds is paired with Mike Morgan of Nome.

Meanwhile, the 2007 winners are back together for the first time since their championship run.

Scott Davis of Soldotna and Todd Palin of Wasilla own 11 titles between the two of them. Davis is tied with John Faeo for the most championships in race history with seven and Palin has four.

The race is from Big Lake to Nome and finishes in Fairbanks.

Reach Beth Bragg at bbragg@adn.com or 257-4335.