Iditarod restarts Sunday

March 4, 2005

CASEY RESSLER/Valley Life editor

Starting Sunday morning, 79 mushers will all be gunning for more than $72,000 in prize money, as Alaska's signature event - the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race - officially gets started.

The Iditarod is Alaska's version of March Madness, and the usual players are back in the game. Former champions litter the field, including defending champ Mitch Seavey and mushers like Martin Buser, Jeff King, Rick Swenson and Doug Swingley, who all challenge for the race title every year. There are some notable newcomers as well, including Rachael Scdoris, a blind woman from Bend, Ore.

As has become a sort-of Iditarod tradition, weather has already played havoc with the race's start. The ceremonial start in Anchorage has been shortened due to a lack of snow, and the Wasilla restart has been moved to Willow once again. The Anchorage start will continue only to Campbell Airstrip instead of Eagle River, while the official restart won't travel through historic Knik, yet again.

"Unfortunately, our repeated observation of the overall trail conditions between Anchorage and Eagle River and Wasilla and Knik is that they are not adequate for 79 dog teams to safely travel," race marshal Mark Nordman said in an Iditarod press release.

Stan Hooley, the Iditarod Trail Committee executive director, said safety is always the top concern.

"Trail conditions in the early miles of the race are even more important and the commitment of this organization to the mushers and their dogs is to ensure that decisions such as this are made with their best interest in mind," Hooley said.

That change has angered at least one local resident, however.

"The conditions are fine. Knik is where the history of the Iditarod is, and not going through there is just wrong, because the conditions are OK to do it," said Ed Boots, a Wasilla man who is organizing a boycott of the Willow restart. "Nobody from Iditarod is making an effort to preserve that history and tradition."

The restart is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday on Willow Lake, behind the Willow Community Center. Public parking will be located at Willow Airport, at Mile 69.5 Parks Hwy. Flaggers and parking attendants will be on site to direct people to parking areas near the restart. A shuttle service will begin at the parking area at 10 a.m. Sunday, and will continue until the end of the restart, Iditarod officials announced.

The Iditarod Trail Committee, along with the Alaska State Troopers and the Alaska Department of Transportation, recommends that spectators carpool, and use the shuttle service for safety reasons, due to anticipated high traffic counts on the Parks Highway on Sunday. People are advised to arrive as early as possible, to avoid congestion.

Once the mushers make their way through the backcountry of Willow, they will proceed to Yentna Station, which serves as the first checkpoint. From there, they follow the regular Iditarod Trail to Nome. This being an odd year, the Southern Route will be used. Both the Northern Route and the Southern Route follow the same trail to Ophir, but then one veers north and the other veers south. The change in routes is a way to bring the Iditarod to small villages around Alaska.

The initial stages of the race are in low-lying areas, including along the Yentna River. From there, the big climb begins - mushers make their way through the Alaska Range through Rainy Pass. From there, a descent greets mushers into the Farewell Burn, a nasty stretch of trail that claims many sleds each year. After leaving Ophir, a 90-mile stretch into Iditarod awaits, with the first musher into Iditarod claiming the halfway prize.

The Yukon River is the next stretch, which seems like a superhighway compared to the treacherous climbs through the Alaska Range. Once mushers hit Unalakleet, they are faced with another change - the Norton Sound coast, and the fierce winds it brings with it. A few more checkpoints later, and the mushers enter White Mountain, 77 miles from the finish. Often, the race is already decided by that point, but sometimes, it is only the start. After a mandatory eight-hour layover there, mushers go 55 miles into Safety, the final checkpoint. From there, it's a 22-mile "sprint" into Nome, where the Burled Arch lines Front Street with several thousand cheering fans.

This year's winner will pocket more than $72,000, as well as a Dodge Ram T-2500 diesel pick-up truck, presented by Anchorage Chrysler Dodge, one of the Iditarod's top sponsors. The truck is valued at $43,000, bringing the winner's prize package to $115,000.

There also numerous awards available at various checkpoints. In addition to the GCI Dorothy Page Halfway Award ($3,000), there is the Wells Fargo Bank Alaska Gold Coast Award ($2,500 for the first musher into Unalakleet); PenAir Spirit of Alaska Award (a spirit mask to the first musher into McGrath); and the Millennium Hotel First Musher to the Yukon Award (seven-course dinner and $3,500 to first musher into Ruby).