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Photos: Fur Rondy sled dog races start with fanfare and slushy conditions

By Emily Mesner
Updated: February 26, 2022 Published: February 26, 2022

Snow is flung into the air as Fairbanks musher Wendy Callis’ dog team crosses the starting line on Fourth Avenue in downtown Anchorage during the first day of the Fur Rendezvous World Championship Sled Dog Races on Friday, Feb. 25, 2022. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

Nineteen mushers crossed the starting line Friday as they competed in the first of three races held this weekend during the 2022 Fur Rendezvous World Championship Sled Dog Races in Anchorage.

People lined Fourth Avenue downtown to watch as dog teams passed, mushing on swaths of newly added snow.

Nearby, at the intersection of West 15th Avenue and Cordova Street, a team of volunteers spent the afternoon shoveling snow from sidewalks onto the middle of the road to ensure the pavement remained covered for the teams.

[Reindeer runs, snowshoe softball and ice bowling: Here’s how to experience the 2022 Fur Rendezvous in Anchorage]

Volunteer Nora Flores shovels snow from the sidewalk into the intersection of Cordova Street and West 15th Avenue in between dog team crossings. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

Young children cheer on mushers and their dogs near the starting line. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

People sit near the intersection of Cordova Street and East 16th Avenue and watch as musher Carl Ray Erhart, from Tanana, passes with his dog team. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

As teams returned to Cordova Street, they faced a difficult run uphill but were cheered on by spectators who whistled and clapped for the dogs and mushers.

The sprint mushing teams will travel the same 25-mile route across Anchorage again on Saturday and Sunday for a total of 75 miles. They are competing for $60,000 in prizes. Each race starts at noon in downtown Anchorage at Fourth Avenue and D Street.

Musher Hans Gatt, from Whitehorse, waits with his dog team and handlers before the start of the first race on Friday. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

Musher Blayne Streeper, from Fort Nelson, British Columbia, races with his dog team back towards downtown Anchorage. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

Gary Markley ties musher Andria Bond’s race bib as she gears up for the start of the race. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

People line Fourth Avenue in downtown Anchorage and watch the start of the Fur Rendezvous World Championship Sled Dog Races. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

A race volunteer helps Wyoming musher Alix Crittenden untangle members of his dog team shortly after they crossed the starting line. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

Mushers and their dog teams wait behind the starting line to compete in the first day of the Fur Rendezvous World Championship Sled Dog Races. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

Musher Michael Tetzner, from Burg, Germany, travels along Fourth Avenue in downtown Anchorage shortly after crossing the starting line during the Fur Rendezvous World Championship Sled Dog Races. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

A musher and their dog team take off from the starting line down Fourth Avenue in downtown Anchorage as people line the street to watch the first day of the Fur Rendezvous World Championship Sled Dog Races on Friday, Feb. 25, 2022. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

Emily Mesner

Emily Mesner is a multimedia journalist for the Anchorage Daily News. She previously worked for the National Park Service at Denali National Park and Preserve and the Western Arctic National Parklands in Kotzebue, at the Cordova Times and at the Jackson Citizen Patriot in Jackson, Michigan.

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