Yesterday was the official restart of the Iditarod 2025.
Why a restart? Because there is a ceremonial start in Anchorage, but this year there was a section of the trail that didn’t have enough snow. So instead of racing from Anchorage to Nome, the teams headed to Fairbanks for the fourth time in the race’s 53 year history.
It was by chance that my wife and I stayed at Pike’s Waterfront Lodge, the official start line of the race. We walked out of the hotel on Sunday to find people putting up signs. The start had been moved just 10 days or so before and we were oblivious.
A quick change of my flight had be staying late on Monday to watch the restart, because who knows when I’d see it again?
With 33 teams entering and starting this year, the first start was at 11am with the last being about 66 minutes later. They are staggered by two minutes and over the course of the next 8-12 days, those spaces will grow.
Since this was last minute, it seemed like a lot of those who showed up were the local town of Fairbanks. It has a small-town feel to it and was an upbeat, fun event. Not overhyped, not over sponsored. Just a bunch of people standing around watching sled dogs do their thing.
After leaving the start the path wound down to the Chena River which was frozen over. That is where I ventured to get close up shots of the dogs and mushers because it became very informal, very quick.
Kids and adults lined the general path (no more roped off areas) and high-fived the drivers as they went by.
I loved every minute of it for the small-town feel and the history of what the race meant. And the fact that nearly half the teams were rookies, meaning they had never finished in the past. Lots of women mushers as well as the competition is one of the few ‘open’ competitions for a professional sport.
Enjoy a few photos from yesterday’s events. I’ll have more when they are done processing.
