Waiting in Willow

WILLOW — It seems as if every city with even the remotest link still calls itself the “Home of the Iditarod.”

Anchorage hosts the ceremonial start. Seward is the beginning of the national historic trail. Wasilla used to be home to the restart, but now just houses the Iditarod Trial Committee Headquarters. There was even that one oddball year it started in Fairbanks.

For Willow — the town where the timed portion of the race actually begins — this claim is in jeopardy of becoming more tenuous.

Willow Lake became the temporary home to the restart in 2004 after the variability in snow conditions forced the event out of Wasilla. However, Iditarod Executive Director Stan Hooley said, the lake will never be the permanent home to the restart.

Asked what the downsides were to the lake, Hooley said “there aren’t any from our perspective. It’s the (Federal Aviation Administration).”

Hooley said, because the lake is part of the Willow Airport, the surrounding area is controlled airspace. In addition, the temporary parking lot for the restart is actually on the apron of Willow Airport proper. This parking lot is across the Parks Highway from the lake, meaning a potential danger to pedestrians and a major traffic disruption, he said.

Rick Feller, a spokesman with the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, said FAA guidelines frown upon using airports for non-airport purposes. Take-offs and landings on the lake have to be shut down, and traffic on the highway has to more or less stop for visitor crossings, he said.

“Together, we sought to remedy that problem by participating in the planning effort to develop a long-term solution to address those concerns,” Feller said.

But part of addressing these concerns is finding the restart a new home. The agreement the race has with DOT/PF means that the 2013 race will be the last time the Iditarod will start on Willow Lake.

Hooley said the Iditarod is working with DOT/PF and DOWL Engineering to identify and evaluate new locations for the restart. He could not give specifics, but he said most of the potential sites are north of the current location. Some are inside the unincorporated Willow area, but some are not.

“Probably the best way to characterize it is we are looking in areas in and around Willow or on the north side of Willow,” Hooley said.

Hooley said they are going to get through this year’s race then sit down to look at the information complied by DOWL Engineering.

But, Hooley said, even if the restart moves outside of Willow, he does not expect the economic stimulus the race brings to the town to stop. Drivers will still have to drive through town regardless of where the new restart is. And, like so many towns before it, Willow will surely retain the title “Home of the Iditarod.”

Contact Todd L. Disher at todd.disher@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.