Husky News

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is rooted in tradition. The annual race to Nome is both a celebration of the official state sport and a memorial to the serum run, which delivered diphtheria serum to Nome in 1925.

But officials with the race are breaking tradition when it comes to the official and ceremonial starts of the race.

Iditarod Trail Committee Executive Director Stan Hooley announced in a Jan. 9 press release that, for the foreseeable future, the ceremonial start will not finish in Eagle River, and the official restart will take place in Willow instead of Wasilla.

Hooley said preserving the integrity of the race is an important reason for the decision.

“We must, to the very best of our ability, acknowledge our responsibility to ensure the competitive integrity of the race,” Hooley said. “Simply stated, this means that staging these two important events on the trails considered to be the best for both two- and four-legged athletes is priority number one.”

According to Hooley, less than acceptable weather and poor trail conditions for the 110 teams entered in this year’s race led to the decision to keep the ceremonial start from coming to Eagle River for a seventh straight year.

“It is all about the issue of safety,” said Iditarod Trail Committee Director of Public Relations Chas St. George. “We work hard to ensure that there is safe passage between each checkpoint for every team entered. And there is something to the warming thing, because we haven’t had the snow to come out to Eagle River.”

Traditionally, race officials have waited until the week before the race start in downtown Anchorage to evaluate the snow condition and check the trail before canceling the run to Eagle River. That made the early announcement a surprise to those at Veterans of Foreign War Post 9785, including Ervin “Swerve” Petty, coordinator of Iditarod Checkpoint No. 1.

“I wouldn’t say we were as surprised as we were disappointed,” Petty said. “Everyone at the post was disappointed, but I don’t think that is a strong enough word to describe what not having the race come through Eagle River means.”

While the news was difficult to digest, Petty said he saw the decision coming,

“After the first time they bypassed Eagle River because of poor trails years ago, I saw this coming,” he said. “Especially after we went a couple years with the start stopping at the BLM Center. I think the mushers got spoiled only having to run 11 miles on Saturday, because they didn’t want to push their dogs on a day that didn’t count.”

Stopping the ceremonial start short of Eagle River will also be felt among local businesses.

“It saddens me that we are losing this tradition,” said Susie Gorski, executive director of the Chugiak-Eagle River Chamber of Commerce. “Not only is it a blow to local businesses, but also for the community as a whole.”

According to Gorski, the day of the Iditarod brought a lot of people into the community and typically generated good opportunities for local businesses. Without the race and increased foot traffic, businesses will suffer.

“But I don’t know what we can do to change things,” Gorski continued. “How do you deal with the snow issue? You can’t blame the mushers and race officials for wanting to protect the dogs in the show start.”

According to St. George, by making the decision early, the trail committee can focus on the official race.

“In the past, we’ve had to have two plans in place,” he said. “One for running the ceremonial start to Eagle River and a second plan for stopping at the Campbell Creek Science Center. That required an extra cost in terms of manpower, coordination with government agencies and uncertainty among the racers.”

The decision allows the race committee to move forward with what St. George called a sustainable plan for both the ceremonial start and official restart, which was moved from Wasilla to Willow.

While the trail committee believes the change will streamline the preparation for the race, it was not an easy decision to make.

“There has been a very long Iditarod tradition involved in the Eagle River and Wasilla checkpoints,” Hooley said in his written announcement of the change. “Those traditions have been at the core of the Iditarod Trail Committee’s reluctance to make this decision sooner.”

The decision is not just for this year’s race.

“I don’t know if the race will ever return to Eagle River,” St. George said. “Check Point No. 1 is very important to us, but the issue of sustainability of a quality trail makes a return uncertain.”

In addition to being Check Point No. 1 for the race from Anchorage to Nome, Eagle River holds the distinction of being part of the historic Iditarod Trail, which crossed over the Chugach Mountains via Crow Pass.

“Historically, Eagle River has a deep connection to the Iditarod,” St. George said. “Maybe the trail committee can look at how we can continue to involve the community in the race.”

Petty is not ready to throw in the towel and abandon hope of bringing the race back to town.

“I want to talk with the board president to see exactly how the vote went,” he said. “That will give me a gauge if there is some hope of bringing the race back to Eagle River.”

Source: The Alaska Star