Alaska News

Anchorage trail doctors spread snow over ice, pavement for Iditarod ceremonial start

Mallard ducks on Wednesday were paddling the ice-free waters of Chester Creek along the ceremonial route of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race through Anchorage's university-medical district. Nearer downtown, there were puddles of standing water along the route.

But there looked to be just enough of an icy blanket frozen to the asphalt of the Chester Creek Trail and connecting bike trails to speed dog teams to the Bureau of Land Management's Campbell Airstrip on the lower Hillside.

Where the ice cover was lacking, municipal employees were hard at work with snowmachines, sleds and shovels as they transported and then spread snow collected earlier in the winter on bare areas.

Iditarod CEO Stan Hooley said earlier in the week he was confident Anchorage city crews could pull off the 11-mile ceremonial start through the heart of Alaska's largest city, and municipal employees appeared to be putting in a big effort to ensure that happens.

The ceremonial start is important to the Iditarod for both image and financial reasons. So-called "Iditariders'' pay thousands of dollars each year in an auction for seats in the sleds of Iditarod mushers who drive their dog teams through the city.

For those who don't want to bid, it is possible to buy a sled ride outright for $7,500. The system works like eBay's "buy it now'' or bid.

The top bid this year was $4,500 for a ride with four-time Iditarod champion Martin Buser from Big Lake. Defending champ Dallas Seavey went for $4,000.

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But two Iditarod fans paid $7,500 each to buy a sled outright -- picking Jessie Royer from Montana and Kristy Berington from Kasilof.

And then there was someone who paid $25,000 to ride with four-time Iditarod champ Jeff King as part of a deal packaged as "The Ultimate Experience.''

Along with the choice of musher for the Iditarider, the purchaser of the Ultimate, according to the Iditarod auction website (http://www.iditarodauction.com), also gets a three-night stay at Anchorage's Millennium Alaskan Hotel, the Iditarod headquarters during the race; two tickets to the mushers' drawing banquet; the opportunity to cut the ribbon at the start of the race; VIP passes for two to the race holding area downtown; a 2015 race DVD and access to the pay-to-view Iditarod Insider website during the race; and two nights at a checkpoint along the trail to Nome with the opportunity, if desired, to be the checker for the first 10 mushers to arrive. Normally, the beautiful Rainy Pass checkpoint in the Alaska Range is that spot, but the race isn't going through Rainy Pass this year.

Rainy Pass is on the traditional Iditarod route that is largely bare of snow, which has forced the race restart north to Fairbanks on Monday.

The good news for the mushers is that Iditarod is starting just as winter returns to Alaska. Snow is in the forecast for Anchorage on Saturday, according to the National Weather Service, and there are predictions temperatures in the Interior could be down to 20 degrees below zero by early next week.

Craig Medred

Craig Medred is a former writer for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2015.

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