Anchorage, Alaska — Hundreds of barking dogs will take over downtown Anchorage on Saturday to mark the ceremonial start of the world’s most famous sled dog race. This event, intended for fans hoping to see and cheer on their favorite artists, takes place one day before the start of the competition.
Here’s what to know about the 54th running of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, which features a new amateur category and financial backing from a Norwegian billionaire.
The Iditarod was designed by co-founders Dorothy Page and Joe Redington Sr. As a long-distance sled dog race honoring Alaska’s great traditions and the Iditarod Trail. This was a 938-mile (1,510 km) shipping and mail route, extending from Seward on the south coast of Alaska to Nome, on the Bering Sea on the west coast of Alaska.
The start of the race was placed in the Anchorage area to energize residents of the state’s largest city. The late one Howard Farley He was instrumental in getting Nome, about 1,000 miles (1,610 km) away, to the finish line.
Thirty-four drivers 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: Because I won.”
Since then, runners have gone faster and faster, with winners reaching the finish line a block off the Bering Sea in about 10 days.
The number of migrants vying to be the first to reach Nome has varied over the years, but many long-time migrants have retired and High cost of suppliesLike dog food, fields have been kept small this decade.
The largest field was 96 runners who started the race in 2008. Over the race’s first five decades, an average of about 60 people competed. Only 33 people started the race in 2023 and 2025, the lowest number ever.
This year, 34 people are competing, matching the number that started in 1973. They will skate their skis down 11 miles (18 kilometers) of trails in Anchorage past cheering fans on Saturday. The competitive 1,000-mile (1,610-kilometer) race begins Sunday on a frozen lake about 75 miles (120 kilometers) north of Anchorage.
There are already 37 competitors in this year’s race, but three of them are not eligible for the championship or prize money. The Iditarod has started a new Iditarod Expedition Musher Program, which allows people to compete in the Honorary Class.
This year, Norwegian billionaire Kjell Röcke, who now lives in Switzerland, and Canadian businessman Steve Curtis are participating. Unlike Iditarod runners, they are allowed outside help.
Norwegian Thomas Werner, who He won the 2020 Iditarod He was then stuck in Alaska for three months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and would provide support to Rokke, who runs a dog team. Four-time champion Jeff King will help Curtis on the snow machine.
Rokke is providing financial support for the race, including increasing the race purse by $100,000 to a total of $650,000 and providing $170,000 to support the 17 Alaska Native villages that serve as checkpoints.
Iditarod CEO Rob Auerbach said Rokke’s donation to the purse should raise payouts to competitors, with the winner taking home about $80,000, well above the nearly $57,000 paid to last year’s top driver.
“I think it’s healthy for the sport to evolve and look for new opportunities,” Werner told The Associated Press in an interview via private message. “The cost of running a competitive kennel has increased significantly over the years, and this initiative is an attempt to explore more sustainable ways of funding both the kennel and racing itself – while maintaining high standards of dog care, training, competition and overall quality.”
Curtis, whose addition was announced just three days before the ceremonial start, was also expected to provide financial support to the Iditarod, but details were not immediately available.
This year’s field includes four competitors from other countries: two from Canada, one from Norway and one from Denmark.
Although Werner is not eligible to win, the field includes three other former champions who are all looking for their second title: Defending champion Jessie Holmes2023 champion Ryan Reddington And the winner 2019 Kaiser House.
Holmes, a former reality TV star on National Geographic’s “Life Below Zero,” is trying out to join former leads Susan Butcher and Lance Mackey As the only contestants to win their second title of the year after winning their first.
Butcher and McKee went on to win four championships each. They each died of cancer, Butcher in 2006 and Mackey in 2022.
Redington is the grandson of Joe Redington Sr., the race’s co-founder, and Kaiser was the first Yup’ik to win the race.
Deep snow should welcome runners along much of the 1,000-mile (1,610-kilometer) trek to the state’s west coast.
The route takes walkers past two mountain ranges, the frozen Yukon River and the treacherous ice of the Bering Sea before ending at Front Street in Nome.
The finish line is near City Hall, which was built on the former site of The Dexter, a bar that was owned by Wyatt Earp — of Gunfight-at-the-OK-Corral fame — during Nome’s gold rush days.
The winner is expected to arrive in Nome early in the week of March 16.