The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog race kicks off Saturday with a parade-like ceremony through Anchorage, but the route is significantly shorter this year due to lack of snow.
Race officials announced Tuesday that the ceremonial start will end at the Sullivan Arena instead of at the Campbell Airstrp, making the route about 1.5 miles instead of the typical 11 miles. It’s still starting in its usual spot downtown, on Fourth Avenue and D Street.
Andy Angstman, the musher representative on the Iditarod’s Board of Directors, said it’s disappointing to lose so much trail, but he’s happy to have any sort of ceremonial start.
“I was personally surprised they were able to find enough snow to truck in to do any kind of ceremonial start so I’m pleased they were able to pull that off," he said. "The fact they were able to get any snow at all is a bonus."
Anchorage is having a historically low-snow winter.
Iditarod Trail Committee CEO Rob Urbach said in a statement Tuesday that Anchorage city officials worked hard to try to find a way for teams to travel the full route, but ultimately a lack of recent snow and warm temperatures made it impossible.
The ceremonial start will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday. The 33 teams will hit the trail at three-minute intervals. They’ll dash down Fourth Avenue, turn right onto Cordova Street, continue down the Cordova hill and then turn left on 16th Avenue and end at the Sullivan Arena.
The stretch isn’t timed, and doesn’t impact race results.
Spots to watch the event include along 4th Avenue, on the sidewalks near Denali Montessori Elementary School, along Cordova hill and near Sullivan Arena. The mushers will not snake down the city trails this year, where the “trail-gating” parties normally are.
The ceremonial start was most recently shortened in 2017 due to a lack of snow.
After the ceremonial start, mushers will truck about 350 miles north for the official race start on Monday, March 3, at 11 a.m. at Pikes Waterfront Lodge in Fairbanks. Race officials moved the start to Fairbanks because of bare trail on part of the route out of Willow.
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that teams will leave the starting line at three-minute intervals this year, not every two minutes like usual.
