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54th Iditarod sled dog race starts in Alaska

Hundreds of barking dogs took over downtown Anchorage as the ceremonial start of the world’s most famous sled dog race got underway Saturday. As snow fell, fans lined up near the starting line in frigid, 19 degree weather to see and cheer their favorite mushers. The competitive start to the race begins Sunday.

The 54th running of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race features a new amateur category and financial support from a Norwegian billionaire.

The Iditarod was conceived as a long-distance sled dog race to honor both Alaska’s mushing tradition and the Iditarod Trail. That was a 938-mile freight and mail route that ran from Alaska’s southern coast to Nome on the Bering Sea.

Thirty-four mushers started the 1973 race, but only 22 finished.

Dick Wilmarth won it in 20 days. He never raced again. When asked why, he once said, “ Cause I won.”

Since then, mushers have become faster and faster, with winners reaching the finish line a block off the Bering Sea in about 10 days.

The retirements of many longtime mushers and the high cost of supplies, such as dog food, have kept the fields small this decade.

The largest field was 96 mushers starting the race in 2008. Just 33 started the race in 2023 and 2025 — the fewest ever.

This year, 34 mushers are competing. The competitive 1,000-mile race starts Sunday on a frozen lake about 75 miles north of Anchorage.

There actually are 37 mushers in this year’s race, but three are not eligible for the championship or prize money. The Iditarod has started a new Iditarod Expedition Musher Program, which allows people to race in the honorary category.

Participating this year will be Norwegian billionaire Kjell Rokke, who now lives in Switzerland, and Canadian entrepreneur Steve Curtis. Unlike Iditarod contestants, they are allowed outside help.

Rokke is providing financial support to the race, including boosting the race purse by $100,000 to a total of $650,000 and providing $170,000 in support for the 17 Alaska Native villages that serve as checkpoints.

Deep snow should greet mushers along much of the 1,000-mile trek to the state’s western coast. The route takes mushers over two mountain ranges, the frozen Yukon River and treacherous Bering Sea ice before ending on Front Street in Nome.

The finish line is near City Hall, built on the former site of The Dexter, a bar that was owned by Wyatt Earp — he of the Gunfight-at-the-OK-Corral fame — during Nome’s heady gold rush days.

The winner is expected to reach Nome early the week of March 16.



(AP Photo Mark Thiessen)
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