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The second half-century for the world’s most famous sled dog race has gotten off to a rocky start.
Only 33 mushers will participate in the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Saturday, the smallest field ever to take a dog team nearly 1,609 kilometers through the unforgiving Alaskan wilderness. This year’s lineup is smaller than the 34 mushers who participated in the first race in 1973.
The small pool of mushers adds to concerns about the future of the iconic race that has been affected by the pandemic, climate change, inflation and the loss of deep-pocketed sponsors, as many of the great mushing champions retire with little to do. his place.
The largest field ever had 96 mushers in 2008; the average number of mushers starting the race over the past 50 years is 63.
“It’s a bit scary when you look at it that way,” said four-time winner Martin Buser, 64, who retired after finishing the race 39 times last year. “I hope it’s not the situation of the event and … it’s just a temporary layoff.”
The Iditarod is the world’s most prestigious sled dog race, taking competitors over two mountain ranges, the frozen Yukon River and the treacherous Bering Sea ice in frigid temperatures before ending in the old Gold Rush town of Nome.
The roughly 10-day event begins with a “ceremonial start” in Anchorage on Saturday, followed by a competitive start in Willow, about 113 kilometers to the north, on Sunday.
And while the world-renowned race has the highest winner’s purse in sled dog competition, the winner pockets only about $50,000 before taxes — a less than palatable payout amid inflation and the ongoing pandemic.
Many mushers supplement their income by offering a unique Alaskan experience to cruise ship passengers, but over the years the pandemic has led to fewer summer visitors spending money to ride dog sleds on the glacier.
“There are a lot of kennels and a lot of mushers that depend on the hold,” said Aaron Burmeister, a Nome native who is sitting out this year’s race to spend more time with family. Burmeister, who works in construction, has had eight top 10s in the last decade.
“They can race the Iditarod and the cost of making a race team is more than they can sustain themselves,” mushers said.
Take a break to create a bank account
Inflation also took a toll, and some mushers said they would like to see higher prize purses to attract younger competitors.
Defending champion Brent Sass, who supplements his income as a desert guide, isn’t surprised some mushers are taking breaks to build their bank accounts.
Sass, who has 58 dogs, orders 500 bags of high-quality dog food each year. Each bag cost $55 a few years ago, but that has swelled to $85 per bag – or about $42,500 in total for the year. That’s about how much money Sass pocketed from last year’s Iditarod victory.
“You have to be totally prepared to run the Iditarod, and have enough money in the bank to do it,” said Sass, who lives in Eureka, about a four-hour drive north of Fairbanks.
With the cost of other races, Buser said the current Iditarod runs can spend $250,000 to win a $40,000 championship.
The race itself has experienced inflationary increases, said Iditarod CEO Rob Urbach. Supply costs have gone up about 30 percent, he said, and last year it cost nearly $30,000 to transport specially certified hay from the lower 48 for dogs to sleep at race checkpoints.
‘We just want the Iditarod to go’: PETA
The Iditarod also continues to be run by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which targets the race’s largest sponsor. Over the past decade, Alaska Airlines, ExxonMobil, Coca-Cola and Wells Fargo have stopped sponsoring races after being targeted by PETA.
PETA took out full-page newspaper ads in Anchorage and Fairbanks in February with huskies – the predominant breed of sled dogs – prominently featured with the headline, “We don’t want to go to the Iditarod. We just want the Iditarod to go.”
But Urbach said the race’s financial health is good, and payouts should be a little higher this year. The top 20 finishers receive payouts on a sliding scale, and every other finisher earns $1,049, reflecting the race’s mileage, though the actual mileage is less.
Urbach noted that it pays “the healthiest prize money” among competitive sled dog races and called PETA’s campaign “pretty offensive, I think, to most Alaskans.”
There are also concerns about the future of racing due to climate change.
A warming climate forced organizers to move the starting line 467 kilometers north from Willow to Fairbanks in 2003, 2015 and 2017 due to a lack of snow in the Alaska Range.
As the challenges piled up, some veteran mushers with multiple championships have called it quits this year after decades of competing. He found few willing to take his place, at least this year.
“I just came back from Cancun to see the Grateful Dead play on the beach in Mexico,” said four-time winner Jeff King, who is now 67. At 66, I don’t feel like I’m bailing on anyone.
Five-time champion Dallas Seavey said last year’s race will be his last, at least for a while, to spend time with his daughter.
Other past champions who did not race include Dallas’ father, three-time winner Mitch Seavey, and Joar Leifseth Ulsom and Thomas Waerner, who have one title each.
Lance Mackey, another four-time winner, died last year of cancer.
That leaves two former champions in the field this year, Sass and Pete Kaiser.
Sass said he believes the Iditarod will survive this setback.
“If we can just get the train going, I think we’ll be back, and hopefully the world will be under control and things can be cheaper,” Sass said.
“I think it will help build the numbers again.”
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