Iditarod race officials discuss ‘tough call’ to move start to Fairbanks due to safety concerns

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - A major change is coming to this year’s Iditarod as the Trail Committee announced the race will now begin — for the fourth time in the race’s history — in Fairbanks.

This is a reversal of a previous announcement made on Jan. 31 saying the race would begin in Anchorage along the Southern Route as planned. Over Presidents’ Day weekend trail breakers hit the trail and faced significant obstacles.

“The problem is the section from Rohn to Nikolai was unpassable,” said the CEO of the Iditarod Rob Urbach.

A lack of snow has made the 20-mile stretch before the Salmon River leading to Nikolai dangerous for dogs and their racers.

“This year we ran into a situation much like 1986, where there was nothing but tussocks and dirt that full way to, we’ll say from Rohn all the way to Salmon River, which is 18 miles or so out of Nikolai,” said Iditarod Race Director Mark Nordman.

The new route will go as follows: Racers will kick off in Fairbanks, go through Manley, and up into Ruby along the Yukon River before rejoining the traditional Iditarod trail. A break from tradition for a short portion of the race all in the name of safety.

“It was a tough, tough call for sure, but then again you know, we want to make sure we can get these teams to Nome as safe as you can,” Nordman said.

The ceremonial start to the race will still occur on March 1, but racers will kick off the following Monday, March 3 at Pike’s Waterfront Lodge.

“We’ll have all of our programming around Anchorage, and we take a day, and we start on Monday instead of Sunday this year. So, Monday 11 [a.m.] in Fairbanks will be the start, the official start, of Iditarod 53,” Urbach explained.

Amidst the changes, some newcomers are disappointed that they won’t be on the historic trail, but they’ll still have a chance at the title and Mark Nordman says the race will be just as exciting.

”It’ll be exciting, you still have, you know, this is one of the few sports in the world that you can have a rookie; somebody that’s entering their first thousand-mile race and race with the world’s best,” he concluded.

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