On the revamped out-and-back Iditarod route, Skwentna will be the site of mushers’ final layover
Mushers must still take three mandatory layovers, including an eight-hour break in Skwentna 60 miles from the finish line.
Mushers must still take three mandatory layovers, including an eight-hour break in Skwentna 60 miles from the finish line.
The Iditarod has lost another major sponsor as it prepares for a scaled back version of this year’s race because of the pandemic.
Usually a 300-mile run from Bethel to Aniak and back, this year’s race will make two roundtrip runs between Bethel and Bogus Creek.
A field of 54 mushers is expected to start the race on Sunday, March 7.
Race officials on Friday announced a revised route that includes a turnaround near the ghost town of Iditarod and ends in Willow.
21 mushers have signed up for the race, now scheduled to start on Feb. 12.
The race begins Saturday afternoon in at the Cantwell parking lot on the Denali Highway.
But some wonder whether it will be enough, with impacts from poor salmon runs rippling through the subsistence economy.
Thomas Waerner said Monday he won’t defend his title because of travel restrictions and uncertainty during the coronavirus pandemic .
A number of races have been altered or shortened, or are running with smaller purses than in previous years.
Smith was traveling alone Sunday night near Mackey’s kennel in the Fairbanks area.
Iditarod CEO Rob Urbach stressed the need to be adaptive, and said the race is prepared to go around every village on the route if needed.
Mushers won’t stay in the homes of residents, and all participants -- mushers, handlers, vets -- must take two COVID-19 tests.
Dog teams won’t race on Canada’s side of the 1,000-mile international race trail this winter.
Seavey is among six Iditarod champions, including 2020 winner Thomas Waerner, who have signed up for next year's race to Nome.
A shorter-than-normal race will be run in Alaska and the other will stay in the Yukon.
The veteran musher, one of 11 that got stuck in Elim when a sea storm wiped out the trail, offered encouragement and experience on his 37th run to Nome.
The discounted entry fees are available to mushers who sign up early.
The musher and his dogs flew 20 hours in a 64-year-old DC-6 cargo plane that’s headed to a Norway aviation museum.
The Iditarod runs in Bark’s blood, according to musher Thomas Waerner, who said his co-lead dog was conceived during the 2014 race in the checkpoint of Ruby.