“A Bit Scary”: Iditarod starts with the smallest field ever

The second half century for the world’s most famous sled dog races got off to a rocky start.

Just 33 mushers will take part in Saturday’s ceremonial start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, the smallest field ever to take its dog teams nearly 1,000 miles through Alaska’s unforgiving wilderness. This year’s lineup is even smaller than the 34 riders who lined up for the very first race in 1973.

The small pool of mushers raises concerns about the future of a legendary race that has been hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, inflation and the loss of financially strong sponsors, as well as several notable champion mushers who are retiring with little money to to take their place.

The largest field was 96 mushers in 2008; The average number of runners participating in the race over the last 50 years was 63.

“It’s a little scary when you look at it that way,” said four-time winner Martin Buser (64), who retired after his 39th race last year. “Hopefully it’s not a condition of the event and… it’s just a temporary break.”

The Iditarod is the world’s most prestigious dog sled race, taking participants in frigid temperatures over two mountain ranges, the frozen Yukon River and the treacherous ice of the Bering Sea to finish in the old gold rush town of Nome. The approximately 10-day event begins with a “ceremonial start” on Saturday in Anchorage, followed by the race start in Willow, nearly 40 miles north, on Sunday.

And while the world-famous race has the highest purse of any sled dog competition, the winner only receives about $50,000 before taxes — a payout less attractive given inflation and the ongoing impact of the pandemic.

Many mushers supplement their income by offering passengers unique Alaskan experiences, but in recent years the pandemic has led fewer summer visitors to spend money on a dog sled ride on a glacier.

“There are a lot of kennels and a lot of mushers that rely on them to keep going,” said Aaron Burmeister, a Nome Native who is sitting out the race this year to spend more time with the family. Burmeister, who works in the construction industry, has achieved eight top 10 rankings over the past ten years.

“The opportunity to race the Iditarod and the cost of putting together a race team became more than they could afford,” he said of the mushers.

Inflation also took its toll, with several mushers saying they would like to see higher prize money to attract younger entrants.

Defending champion Brent Sass, who supplements his income as a wilderness guide, isn’t surprised to see some mushers taking a break to build bank accounts.

Sass, which has 58 dogs, orders 500 bags of premium dog food annually. Each bag cost $55 a few years ago, but that has jumped to $85 per bag — or about $42,500 a year in total. That’s how much money Sass took in last year in the Iditarod win.

“You have to be fully prepared to run Iditarod and have enough money in the bank to do it,” says Sass, who lives in Eureka, about four hours north of Fairbanks.

With other racing expenses, Buser said the Iditarod race could now mean spending $250,000 to win a $40,000 championship.

The race itself has suffered from increased inflation, said Rob Urbach, CEO of Iditarod. Supply costs are up about 30%, he said, and last year it cost nearly $30,000 to get specially certified straw from the Lower 48 for dogs to sleep on at breeding checkpoints.

The Iditarod also continues to be a target of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which target the race’s biggest sponsors. In the past decade, Alaska Airlines, ExxonMobil, Coca-Cola and Wells Fargo have all stopped sponsoring races after being targeted by PETA.

In February, PETA ran full-page newspaper ads in Anchorage and Fairbanks featuring a husky—the dominant sled dog breed—with the headline, “We don’t want to go to the Iditarod. We just want the Iditarod to go away. “

But Urbach said the race’s financial health is good and payouts should be slightly higher this year. The top 20 finishers receive payouts on a tiered scale, and every other finisher receives $1,049, reflecting the race’s advertised mileage, although the actual mileage is lower.

Urbach noted that they pay “the healthiest prize money” among sled dog competitions and called the PETA campaign “quite offensive, I think, to most Alaskans.”

There are also concerns about the future of the race due to climate change.

The warm climate forced organizers to move the starting line 140 miles north from Willow to Fairbanks in 2003, 2015 and 2017 due to lack of snow in the Alaska Range. Poor winter conditions and urban growth also led the Iditarod to officially move the 2008 launch from Wasilla, about 37 miles north to Willow, even though Wasilla hosted the last launch in 2002.

Moving the start of the race north is likely to become more common as global warming continues, said Rick Thoman, a climate specialist at the University of Alaska’s Fairbanks International Arctic Research Center. The ice on Alaska’s west coast could also become thinner and more dangerous, he said.

“It doesn’t have to be that waves break on the beach,” Thoman said of the effects of the ice melt. “It just has to be where the ice isn’t stable.”

As the challenges grew, several seasoned multi-championship runners walked away this year after decades of braving the freezing cold and windy conditions to train for the Iditarod in the dead of Alaskan winters. They find that, at least this year, few are ready to take their place.

“I just got back from Cancun to watch the Grateful Dead play on the beaches of Mexico,” said four-time champion Jeff King, 67. “I first said I would quit at 40, and I have the race at 66, so I I don’t feel like I’m stepping on anyone.”

Five-time champion Dallas Seavey said last year’s race was the last time he spent time with his daughter, at least for a while. Other past champions not racing include Dallas’ father, three-time champion Mitch Seavey, and Joar Leifseth Ulsom and Thomas Waerner, who each hold a title.

Waerner said sponsors are reluctant and paying $60,000 to take his team from Norway to Alaska is too expensive.

Lance Mackey, another four-time champion, died of cancer last year. He is the runner of honor for this year’s race and his children, Atigun and Lozen, will ride in the first sled to leave the ceremonial starting line in Anchorage and during the race start on Sunday.

That leaves two former winners in this year’s field, Sass and Pete Kaiser.

Sass said he is confident the Iditarod will weather this recession.

“If we just let the train roll forward, I think it will come back, and hopefully our world can get things under control and maybe it will get a little cheaper,” Sass said. “I think it will help us get back on track with our numbers.”