Musher Gabe Dunham and one of her sled dogs as they head to the starting line of the 2025 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race ceremonial start in Anchorage on Saturday, March 1, 2025.
Thirty-three mushers and hundreds of sled dogs paraded through Anchorage on Saturday for the ceremonial start of the 2025 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
In temperatures hovering around 30 degrees, the teams mushed across 1.5 miles of city streets — a way shorter route than normal. There’s been so little snow in Anchorage this winter that officials had to scrounge snow from cul-de-sacs to make even this trail work.
Rookie Emily Ford was dreaming of snowier trail farther north. Teams will officially start their race on Monday out of Fairbanks because of low snow on the normal route.
“I love long trips — 1,000 miles, I’d do 2,000 miles, I’d do 3,000 miles,” Ford said. “If they were like, ‘We're gonna run around the whole Arctic Circle,' I'd be like, ‘Great. Count me in.’”
As teams dashed through downtown Saturday, fans flocked to the streets to cheer, get high-fives and collect dog booties thrown from the sleds.
Here are 25 of our favorite photos from the day:
James Oh
/
Alaska Public Media
Musher Jason Mackey and his dog team dash down Cordova Street as the crowd reaches out for high-fives.
Matt Faubion
/
Alaska Public Media
Musher Matt Failor gets his team ready downtown.
Matt Faubion
/
Alaska Public Media
Bruiser waits for musher Emily Ford to let him out of his kennel box.
Matt Faubion
/
Alaska Public Media
Jared Goecker with his son Noah at the ceremonial start downtown.
Matt Faubion
/
Alaska Public Media
Anchorage officials had to scrape snow from cul-de-sacs to make the 2025 ceremonial start happen.
Matt Faubion
/
Alaska Public Media
Dog handlers help steer a team back on the trail through downtown Anchorage.
James Oh
/
Alaska Public Media
Tara Stevens (second from right) and her friends say they watch the ceremonial start in Anchorage every year.
Matt Faubion
/
Alaska Public Media
From left to right: Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom and Sen. Dan Sullivan cut a ribbon to initiate the start of the 2025 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race ceremonial start.
James Oh
/
Alaska Public Media
Anthony Sadler and his dog watch the ceremonial start for their first time.
Matt Faubion
/
Alaska Public Media
Deana Seigler gets cozy in a sled before the 2025 Iditarod opening ceremonies.
Matt Faubion
/
Alaska Public Media
Iditarod rookie Emily Ford (left) poses for a photo with her dog team before the ceremonial start begins.
Matt Faubion
/
Alaska Public Media
2023 Iditarod champion Ryan Redington is decked out in his signature neon-green jacket and gear for the ceremonial start.
Ben Townsend
/
KNOM
Sled dogs head to the starting line.
Ben Townsend
/
KNOM
Fairbanks’ Jeff Deeter leads his dog team down 4th Avenue.
Matt Faubion
/
Alaska Public Media
Musher Jessie Holmes has a quick phone call with his mom before rushing his dog team to the starting line.
Ben Townsend
/
KNOM
A license plate on a dog truck reads "DOGPWR" in downtown Anchorage.
Matt Faubion
/
Alaska Public Media
Dog handler Miriam Osredkar decorates musher Gabe Dunham’s sled.
Matt Faubion
/
Alaska Public Media
Musher Nicolas Petit untangles dog harnesses ahead of the ceremonial start.
Matt Faubion
/
Alaska Public Media
Handlers for Paige Drobny’s team wore Hawaiian shirts as a nod to the warmer weather.
Cadence Cedars
/
Alaska Public Media
Sled dogs on Travis' Beals team look over at the musher ahead of the ceremonial start.
Ben Townsend
/
KNOM
Walter Topkok of the Anchorage Kingikmiut Dance Group performs during the opening ceremonies.
James Oh
/
Alaska Public Media
Iditarod fans line up for hot dogs and hot chocolate near the ceremonial start route.
Ben Townsend
/
KNOM
Musher Matt Hall smiles while getting a lick from a member of his dog team.
Ben Townsend
/
KNOM
Six-time Iditarod champion Dallas Seavey, left, prepares to ride a sled towed by his father, three-time champion Mitch Seavey. The elder Seavey won his last Iditarod at age 57 in 2017 when the race also started out of Fairbanks, becoming the oldest and fastest Iditarod winner.
James Oh
/
Alaska Public Media
Iditarod rookie Samantha LaLonde and her sled dogs race down the hill on Cordova Street.
James Oh is a multimedia production associate at Alaska Public Media, born and raised in the big state of Alaska. He got his start at AKPM in March of 2024 and has been thriving ever since!
