Despite this year's record-breaking high temperatures and lack of snow along parts of the fabled Iditarod Trail, the race's ceremonial start plugged the downtown streets of Anchorage Saturday. Bundled fans and furry dogs inundated Fourth Avenue, covered by race workers the night before with trucked-in snow, creating the trail that cuts from downtown to Campbell Airstrip, about 11 miles away.
The Last Great Race is underway -- kind of. Teams will pack up and head to Willow for the official start on Sunday.
Iditarod musher Curt Perano departed first from downtown, wearing bib No. 2. (Bib No. 1 is reserved for an "honorary musher"; this year, the recognition went to the late Deby Trosper, a longtime race volunteer and employee whose granddaughter took her place on the first outbound sled.) Perano, a New Zealand native, placed 27th last year with a time of 10 days, 13 hours, 21 minutes and 14 seconds, more than a day behind 2013 victor Mitch Seavey.
This year, he's fresh off a seventh-place finish in the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race, which Perano said left him feeling "pretty prepared" for what's reported to be a rough and rugged Iditarod Trail. On the Alaska side of the Quest trail, Perano said, he dealt with open water, rough trail and a four-day stretch of temperatures around 50 below. His Iditarod team includes 13 veterans of this year's Quest, nine of whom finished the race.
While it's "cool" that he drew the starting bib, Perano added, he would have preferred something closer to bib No. 10 -- he likes having a few people ahead to help him pace himself. His goal for this year's race has less to do with how he finishes than when he finishes; he'd like to improve his run-rest ratio.
Just before Perano darted off, fans stood snapping photos surrounded celebrity mushers' trucks as handlers busied themselves amid the throngs, untangling brightly colored harnesses. Down the street, Abbie "Quest" West -- so called by friends because of her passion for the Yukon Quest -- was gearing up for her rookie run at the Iditarod.
West started out handling dogs for Jack Berry in the 1996 Iditarod, but it's been a long time since she joined the throng in downtown Anchorage. It's a very different scene from the starting line of the more low-key Yukon Quest.
"It's so big," West said -- nothing like the Quest, where "you just kind of go off into the wilderness without any fanfare."
West has been building her team for a few years -- Gwich'in Athabascan "village dogs" from the Jay Cadzow bloodline, which has been preserved by the Fort Yukon family for generations -- and said she feels "prepared" for her first Iditarod after three runs at the Quest and plenty of mid-distance experience.
Other competitors, like Cindy Abbott, race for a cause. In 2007, as she was training to climb Mount Everest, Abbott was diagnosed with the serious and rare disease Wegener's granulomatosis, which involves inflammation of the blood vessels and can cause fatigue, weight loss and joint pains among other symptoms.
The diagnosis didn't slow her down, however. She reached the "top of the world," and now she's back for another Iditarod run despite having broken her pelvis in two places during the 2013 race. She rode more than 600 miles with that injury, thinking she'd simply injured her leg.
Abbott said she rides to raise awareness about NORD, the National Organization of Rare Diseases. National rare disease day was Friday, so it feels appropriate to pack her NORD banner and set off on the trail so soon, she said.
A day for spectators: You cant beat the real thing
Competitors curtailed ambitions of victory Saturday during the just-for-fun event as crowds lined the streets to catch a glimpse of veteran and fan-favorite mushers near the start.
Before long, the trail won't be nearly as spectator-friendly, as it cuts through some of the most remote terrain in the United States. Dangers there include frostbite, overflow, howling winds and open water, as well as lurking moose and buffalo. And this year, potential troubles have multiplied as rocks, roots and stumps protrude from a light blanket of snow.
The trail was so bad before trail crews worked it over last week that race officials considered moving the race start to Fairbanks. But a gang of volunteers rendered the trail passable.
In Anchorage, the dangers are simpler: pet dogs, unwary spectators and exhaust fumes.
But the ceremonial start is an accessible way for people to gather and watch all 69 mushers in one place before they spread out along the Iditarod Trail.
Richard Roberts craned over other spectators near the starting line, trying to catch a glimpse of his home state favorite, Minnesota native Ken Anderson. The Gopher State, where negative temperatures and snowstorms are common during winter, hosts many of its own sled dog races.
Sporting a puffy beige fur hat, Roberts said he came to Alaska to see the race with his own eyes. He watches its progress back in Minnesota online and on TV, but being here is "a dream come true."
"It's the best thing ever," he said. "Seeing the wrinkles in the competitors' faces, hearing the dogs bark. You can't beat the real thing."
This year's race will follow the northern route, which is considered among racers to be the less dangerous path; it's shorter and includes less travel on Alaska's frozen rivers than the southern route, which mushers run in odd-numbered years.
Behind the starting line Saturday, dogs barked and whined as mushers harnessed and organized their teams. Lead dogs quietly examined the competition while younger wheel dogs jumped in anticipation. Some have received doses of Prilosec, an over-the-counter antacid that prevents gastric ulcers, which can be fatal and are sometimes exacerbated by running long distances.
This year's field features several former Iditarod champions, including four-time winners Jeff King and Martin Buser. The winningest Iditarod champion, Rick Swenson, is absent from this year's race, as he was last year after withdrawing weeks before the race began, citing personal reasons. Seavey, who placed first for a second time in 2013, will once again be gunning for the top spot.
Seavey is among the favorites. Another popular racer to watch is Mitch's son, 25-year-old Dallas Seavey, who made history in 2012 when he became the youngest musher ever to win. And fans are keeping an eye on two-time champ Robert Sorlie of Norway, returning after a six-year absence. He hasn't participated in the race as much as other mushers, but in just four Iditarods, he's never finished out of the top 12.