Mushers navigate different trail for 53rd Iditarod

Even though the Iditarod race start was moved from Anchorage to Fairbanks this year, because of the lack of snow and warm temperatures in Southcentral all winter and bare dirt north of the Alaska Range, Fairbanks boasted 40°F with blazing sunshine on March 3, when the 33 mushers hit the trail, officially beginning the 53rd Iditarod.
It was the same temperature as it was in Anchorage two days before at the ceremonial start, with the sun beating down on Pike’s Waterfront Lodge, which hosted the Fairbanks restart for thousands that gathered to see mushers leave from Fairbanks for the fourth time in race history.
The teams will be racing the longest route in Iditarod history, covering 1,121 miles. Some of the trail follows the historic Serum Run trail from Nenana to Kaltag, but then veers south to the Yukon villages of Anvik and Shageluk before backtracking up to Kaltag again and then continuing on to Unalakleet and up the Norton Sound coast to Nome.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the historic Great Race of Mercy, the Serum Run, and while it’s often erroneously conflated with the Iditarod, Race Director Mark Nordman finds “it’s still a fun coincidence” that this year the Iditarod teams run partially on the serum run trail.
The biggest factor in switching the race this year though was safety.
“It’s a dog race, so it’s all about providing the racers we have this year, with all different abilities, the safest trail that wilderness travel can allow,” Nordman said.
The mushers began their race at the Chena River, a thoroughfare for Fairbanksians in the winter, and as they exited the chute and descended onto the river, they joined skiers, snowmachiners, bikers and hikers who were enjoying the warm March weather.
Days before, teams made their way up the Parks Highway from Anchorage, where they participated in the ceremonial start down 4th Avenue on Saturday, March 1.
On the banks of the Chena River the parking was so scant, organizers bussed spectators over from the Carlson Center. With fire engines buffering the race chute, the loudspeaker crackled announcements of the teams which were released every two minutes. Families, college kids, and every type of local from bush rat to office worker bounced around in anticipation of the rare event.
“It’s about getting them out on trail, then the real race begins,” said Christina Wilson, Iditarod’s head veterinary technician, after she explained that they’d just finished doing chip checks for all the dogs a second time, ensuring all pertinent info about each dog is properly logged.
Keaton Loebrich, one of three rookies from Michigan, shared that his truck broke down that morning on the way to the race so he “hadn’t had too much time to think.” But he didn’t seem concerned, “Gotta keep overcoming and on to the next.”
2023 Champion Ryan Reddington fiddled with his sled, while his dogs sat quietly in the trailer before go time. He was feeling the pre-race jitters, but more than ready to finally get on with the race after a week of meetings, banquets and the ceremonial run.

Thinking through the trail
Longer route, lots of time on rivers, predicted warmer temperatures and an all-around weird winter for training has given mushers a lot to think about strategy-wise going into the 53rd Iditarod.
With this route change, the strategy behind which dogs veteran musher Mille Porsild will be running has shifted.
“When you’re fortunate enough to have more dogs ready to roll then what you need on the team, you weigh all kinds of weird things when it comes down to who should be on it,” Porsild said.
Many mushers cited the warm weather that will be seen on the Fairbanks route as a factor in their gameplan.
“Traditionally, on this route I would have gone with dogs that keep their weight really well,” Porsild said, but due to temperatures in the Interior being higher, the best eaters aren’t necessarily top priority for her this year.
Nic Petit, also a veteran musher who spent the winter clocking many miles out of Eureka Lodge, bragged of his team’s slick coats, as opposed to other dogs’ heavy shag.
“I like warm weather, I’m totally into warm weather,” Petit said.
“Our run schedules will be adjusting with the temperature of the day,” said Matt Hall, who finished in second place last year.
Hall is more concerned about the river running than the heat, musing how unfortunate it is that the rules prohibit mushers from tethering themselves to the sled since the river route may prove less exciting than others. But he said his team will make up for it by crushing the longer trail.
“We’re gonna be conservative, we won’t be winning no halfway awards, but the plan is to come in strong later on,” Hall said.
Some mushers had a tough time training this winter, with the general lack of snow. 
Anna and Kristy Berington live in Knik, where winter training consisted of trucking the dog team to places with decent trails.
“Our trails at home really weren’t good to run on after January,” Anna Berington said. “It was better to spend the time to load up and go someplace and get a lot of great miles than to struggle to get shore miles on questionable trails.”
Though she’s run the Fairbanks route two other times, this one is different. To accommodate for the monotony of the river Berington is bringing a trailer sled so she’ll be able to rotate dogs, breaking up the longer route and giving a break to those who need one.
Redington said he had to adjust where he trained his team, but he’s got more miles on the dogs this year than they’ve ever had.
“I’m looking forward to the challenge on the river, and the competition,” Redington said.

Not everyone is concerned with being the first to cross under the burled arch though. Rookie Emily Ford is looking forward to the extra time she gets with her dogs due to the longer route.
“I’m just there to get to the burled arch with healthy dogs,” Ford said. Interestingly, one of the dogs she’s running, Laurakins, has done a very similar route before when she mushed the 2020 Serum Run expedition with owner Kathleen Fredrick.

Logistics
The route leaving from Fairbanks was officially announced just two weeks before the race start, which didn’t just mean mushers were scrambling to pivot, but race organizers as well.
Mushers had already sent out their drop bags with food and supplies for each checkpoint, with the southern route in mind. But according to Nordman it was an easy switch, trading bags out for similar stretches between checkpoints.
“If it was a 50-mile run from Ruby to Galena, we would’ve taken from Nikolai to McGrath,” Nordman said.
Out of the pool of mushers, 16 are rookies, and while Nordman said some disappointment was expressed that they wouldn’t be able to take the traditional route, the opportunity to visit the villages along the Yukon is a great honor.
With the longer route and later start, it’s likely that the winner won’t get to Nome until the wee hours of Wednesday morning, according to an Iditarod estimate.
Now they’re all off, traveling the long and lonely Yukon, making it through the first few checkpoints on their way to Nome. The ‘Last Great Race’ has begun.

With reporting from Colin A. Warren