Willow, AK - The 41st running of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race got underway over the weekend with the ceremonial start in Anchorage on Saturday and an official restart of the race in Willow Sunday. This year’s race has drawn six returning champions, plus a host of other fiercely competitive teams.
It’s nearly impossible to pick a list of potential top ten teams this year. Even three time Iditarod finisher Jake Berkowitz was having a tough time before the start. “There’s probably 15 teams that are vying for a top ten." Berkowitz says he’s definitely heading to Nome looking for a first place finish. “We have a solid plan that fits our dog team and they’re healthy," he says. "All 16 just ran the Quest, so they’re just ready to start scootin’ down the trail.” But he’ll have to keep tabs on teams like defending champion Dallas Seavey’s. Seavey became the youngest musher to win the race when he crossed under Nome’s burled arch last year. “What made us win last year, wasn’t an exact training schedule, it was not any one method of doing things," says Seavey. "It was finding what the dogs needing and accommodating that. So, yeah, we’re taking everything we learned from last year, taking the same principles and applying them, but not doing the same training. These are different dogs.” Seavey has combined what he calls the “core” of last year’s team with a new group of young dogs. They’ll be chasing down his father Mitch, also a former Iditarod champion, who’s running his 20th ‘Last Great Race.’ But the Seaveys aren’t the only mushers trying to uphold the family name. “That’s what the Mackey’s do,” says Jason Mackey. He is the son of champion Dick and brother of champions Rick and Lance. "I cuss my dad daily sometimes, because all kids want to follow in their dad’s footsteps," he says. "And then when I was at the finish line in ’78 to watch my dad, I was only 6 years old, but that inspired me from that day, I knew I wanted to race dogs.” This is Jason Mackey’s third Iditarod and, this year, his team is the talk of the dog yard. “They do really look good. I’m more than happy with them,” he says. This Mackey doesn’t have the sponsorship support that his brother Lance does to run the race every year, but the hunger to win and competitive drive his family is known for isn’t lost on him. “Everybody says are you gonna win? Well, yes, one day I am gonna win this race and I’m not gonna give up until I do.”
There are also mushers like Mike Ellis. It’s unlikely his slower, but highly trained Siberian huskies can win the race. But the Two Rivers musher has a very good chance of breaking the record for Siberians set by Blake Freking in 2010. “With a trail in front of us and a good dog team, that’s all we need," says Ellis. "We got a lot of supplies out there, there’s so many checkpoints. I mean, it’s dealing with the warmth and light and crowds is gonna be our issue, so we’ll probably do a lot of camping early and stay out of as much of the hoopla as we can until things spread out some and then see what we got.”
Other highly trained dogs include Aliy Zirkle’s go to leaders, Quito and Olivia. "Quito’s gonna start in lead for me, Olivia is gonna start in swing," laughs Zirkle, "Just 'cuz Quito’s a little spunky right now, she needs to come herself down, so she can run with her brother rambler and they can just burn up the trail behind lead, because I don’t need to go out of here at 13 miles an hour.” She smiles.
Zirkle finished second last year with both dogs. They led her husband Allen Moore’s team to his first Yukon Quest win just last month. Four-time champion Martin Buser started this year’s race for the 30th time. He says it’s not the mushers who have improved over the last three decades. Instead, he says it’s the dogs. "The beauty of the changes of the last 30 years is there used to be standout teams," says Buser. "Now there’s no standout teams. These dogs are so athletic and so incredibly well bred and trained. It’s beautiful to see form an observer’s point of view. It’s horrible from a competitor’s point of view.”
Teams are currently jockeying for position as they head across flat lowlands and follow part of the Skwentna River. They’ll pass through three checkpoints, before they wind up at Rainy pass. Once they leave, they’ll head down the narrow and notoriously dangerous Dalzell Gorge.