For love of the Iditarod: Fans, mushers show admiration for the Last Great Race

WILLOW — While elected officials struggle to find common ground in Juneau, every Alaskan can get excited about the first Sunday in March. The 2019 Iditarod took off from Willow on Sunday for its 1,000-mile journey to Nome. Most mushers make Alaska their home, but the sport of sled dog racing brought surprisingly more people than dogs to Willow to send off the 52 teams hoping to be first under the burled arch. The reigning champion, Joar Ulsom, highlights a stacked field of mushers headed out on the trail for The Last Great Race.

“Winning the Iditarod has become even more difficult because so many people have great dogs. So many people are doing it right. Everybody has good equipment, has good dogs, so now that means that a little minutia like the health of a musher or his personal fitness or the timing of a run or a weather pattern has an even bigger influence on the outcome,” said four-time champ Martin Buser.

After taking photos with fans, Buser relaxes on the seat of his sled, joking that he has to conserve energy. With temperatures in the 30’s and snow falling on Willow, mushers developed different strategies on how to make their way towards the coast.

“I got a new sled. I’ve got a lot better help from my dog team because my main focus is the health of the dog team and I got a little idea of what to expect. I know one thing, it changes every year, so I’m not going to run last years race but I’m going to use a lot of the things that got me into 7th place last year, resting my dog team, keeping them healthy,” Jessie Holmes said. “I’m going to start fast because this is the only place you’re going to be able to go fast possibly and I have a fast team and I’ve got a great bib draw with number five. That’s going to buy me more time to be able to rest more because I want to be the most heavily rested top-10 contender on the Yukon River and that’s where I can hopefully capitalize on building that rest.”

Every dog team is full of good boys, but fans vary on which musher they prefer. Three-time runner-up Aliy Zirkle is in the early lead for fan favorite.

“Aliy forever we root for her. Yes, she’s a very vivacious wonderful part of the dog mushing community. We met her at a checkpoint on the Yukon quest. She’s very approachable, she’s wonderful. A lot of these people are great. It’s really hard to pick one,” Ruth Hornseth said.

Hornseth is seeing her first Iditarod this year, as she calls Maryland home. Hornseth and her husband have made a point to visit their son in The Last Frontier every year and fell in love with the sport of dog mushing. She is part of the more than 1,000 volunteers who help keep the Iditarod running.

“I love the animals. The dogs, I think they’re so enthusiastic it’s infectious. Their handlers obviously have great affection for them,” Hornseth said. “I really enjoy that community of togetherness between man and dog and then all that support the family support, the friend support that comes with being a team.”

Hornseth was one of many Aliy fans out in Willow on Sunday.

“My favorite musher is Aliy zirkle and I would like her to win,” Marcelle Fressineau said. “I also like Nicola Petit.”

Perennial contender Petit keeps a relaxed demeanor pre-race. Fressineau’s French compatriot, Petit has an unorthodox style of racing.

“I try not to work hard because then you break a sweat and then you’re screwed,” Petit said. “I like my brother Ryan Redington. If I had my best case scenario I’d like to have Ryan right there on my butt.”

Paige Drobny is one of the handful of hardcore mushers who compete in both the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod. Drobny is starting her second 1,000-mile sled dog race after taking sixth in the Quest.

“I took the leaders from his team and added them to my team so yeah, it should be pretty good,” Drobny said. “Patience is always crucial to the race, especially in a year that potentially has really deep snow. It’s going to be really crucial to be patient.”

The Iditarod has been without one of it’s most popular human athletes over the past few years as health struggles have sidelined Lance Mackey, who still holds the record for most consecutive wins after taking the title in 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010. Mackey relishes the opportunity to compete again in The Last Great Race.

“I don’t think there’s anybody that is more excited to be out here than me,” Mackey said. “We’re going to go as fast as we can with what we have to work with.”

Twitter sensation and rookie Blair Braverman is taking a young team down the trail for her first Iditarod.

“I have mostly 2-year-olds and most of them haven’t ever run this race before so it’ll be a challenge for them and a challenge for me but I think we’re as prepared as we’re going to be. I’m excited to head out there,” Braverman said.

Local product and part of the first family of dog mushing Ryan Redington has his eyes on being the first musher to Nome, but passing teams along the trail may prove to be tricky.

“There is a lot of snow out on the trail so it’s going to be narrow for passing teams and that might be a challenge, but we’re all in the same boat we all got to pass those teams on narrow trails if we do or get passed,” Redington said.

In even years, teams depart north from Ophir to Cripple, taking the northern route. The 2019 race will run along the southern route, traveling 80 miles from Ophir to Iditarod. The 80-mile leg will be the longest of the trail thus far, and move onto Shageluk, Anvik, Grayling, and Eagle Island before heading to Kaltag where the northern and southern routes join.

“It’s the southern route which is tougher, longer, it’s tougher, and it’s hillier. So you want to make sure you've got enough muscle power to get there, so we’ve got less dogs and a tougher route. I’ve got a nice group of muscle here,” Cindy Abbott said.

Abbott has overcome the odds to make Willow her home and mushing her passion.

“I lived in Southern California and this is now my fifth start and we live two miles down the road here. We built a house. I just fell in love with Alaska and the sport and the dogs and so at age 60 I think it’s pretty cool to be able to be involved in such a hard sport but it’s my final run,” Abbott said.

While all eyes are on Aliy, the fan favorite has to deal with the struggles and harsh reality of the elements in Alaska’s wilderness on the Iditarod trail the same way the other 51 mushers have to.

"If I knew keys to victory I’d be there. This is my number 19 I would have to say there’s probably going to be something new out there despite the fact that it’s number 19. There’s always something new and challenging out there but it’s a great team I have and I’m excited about a lot of snow. You’ve got to be excited or bummed and so I’ve chosen to be excited,” Zirkle said.

“I can’t say that just because you came in second three years in a row or that kind of thing that you have any better chance of winning than if you came in 34th. I think if you have a good team and you have a certain amount of good fortune out there and you’re talented you have to put your P’s and Q’s together, but so just looking at it from my perspective, I have just as much of a chance to win as I did five or six years ago.”

With a rich history on the Iditarod trail, Alaskans can look forward to world-class sled dog racing for years to come.

“The two and a half thousand people that are putting in time are the reason that Iditarod is still happening. We know we’ve endured some stagnation here the last two years we’re glad that the change is on the horizon,” Buser said. “I think Iditarod has many, many decades of even better competition and better organization ahead of itself.”

Contact Frontiersman reporter Tim Rockey at tim.rockey@frontiersman.com.