Thirty-eight mushers are departing from Willow Lake under cloudy skies, with a firm, snowy trail ahead of them for much of the nearly thousand-mile race route.
Five-time champion Dallas Seavey drives his dog team across Willow Lake during the Iditarod restart on Sunday, March 3, 2024.
“I’m thrilled we don’t have 96 teams,” race director Mark Nordman said during a presentation to media earlier in the week, referring to the race’s 2008 high-water mark for competitors. “That was too much.”that have soured relationships in the insular world of competitive mushing. Heading into the 2024 race, the unusual disqualification of two mushers — former championLast year’s champion, Ryan Redington of Knik, is running.
Rookie Jeff Reid of Two Rivers greets young fans near Vera Lake during the Iditarod restart in Willow on Sunday. Kaiser is coming into this year’s race after his eighth victory in the highly competitive Kuskokwim 300 race in Most of the race’s trail through the old Iditarod mining district, along the Yukon, and over the Kaltag portage to the Norton Sound coast is in good shape, according to Nordman.Officials will wait until later in the race when mushers get closer to the coast to determine where the trail will cross sections of sea ice or deviate inland.
This year, the Iditarod increased the number of dogs mushers can start with, upping it from 14 to 16, reversing a modification that went into effect in the 2019 race.Mushers don’t have to use all 16 spots when they set off, but they must begin the race with a minimum of 12 dogs on the line.“Some mushers think it’s easier to field a 16-dog team because you just take all the question marks instead of having to decide which question marks do you take,” Petit said.
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