Ceremonial Iditarod start brings crowds in Anchorage

Ceremonial Iditarod start brings crowds in Anchorage

  • By Mark Thiessen
  • Saturday, March 1, 2014 10:39pm
  • News

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Hordes of dogs, mushers and their eager fans mingled Saturday at the jovial celebratory kickoff of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Anchorage.

Sixty-nine mushers and their teams of 16 dogs each inundated Alaska’s largest city for the annual ceremonial start of the race in a fan-friendly atmosphere. The real race starts Sunday, 50 miles north of Anchorage.

Early Saturday morning, musher trucks lined city streets, and fans like Nancy Alstrand of San Diego spent hours meandering from musher to musher, stopping to chat or pet dogs.

“Absolutely love the dogs,” Alstrand said shortly after taking a picture of one Husky with her iPad. “It infects you, their energy does, and it just makes you so happy.”

Her brother lives in Healy, Alaska, and they intend to make attending the Iditarod start an annual family reunion.

Later in the morning, mushers left the starting gate two minutes apart in the staggered launch to the race. Each carried an “Iditarider,” a person who won their seat on the sled in an auction.

The mushers take a leisurely 11-mile jaunt on urban trails within the city of Anchorage. Snow had to be trucked in to cover the streets of downtown Anchorage until mushers could get on the trail system.

A lack of snow and warm temperatures have been a headache for Iditarod officials this winter. In fact, temperatures in Anchorage were in the mid- to upper 40s in the days preceding the start.

Officials had considered moving the official starting point hundreds of miles north to Fairbanks, but said conditions had improved in the weeks ahead of the race to keep it in Willow, outside of Anchorage.

Concerns about the trail were in areas south of the Alaska Range and in the mountains themselves, race marshal Mark Nordman said. But snow and especially colder temperatures after a long January thaw have alleviated worries there and in areas such as the Yentna River.

“I think the thousand-mile wilderness trail is going to be a little bit of mystery no matter what, if it’s warm or if it’s cold, or it’s windy, or if it’s raining,” said musher Aliy Zirkle of Two Rivers. Zirkle has finished second each of the last two races.

“Every single year, I have to say, I go into it thinking, ‘What is it going to be like?’ And I don’t think this year is any different. I think it’s going to be hard, tough.”

Another fan favorite is veteran musher DeeDee Jonrowe, a breast cancer survivor whose signature piece of apparel is a hot pink parka.

“We’ve been out there a lot of years, I’ve seen them all,” she said of trail conditions. “I’m sure it’s not going to be anything I haven’t seen at some point of my career.”

There are six former champions in the field, including defending champion Mitch Seavey, also the 2004 winner.

“We’ve had really good training, real good conditioning,” Seavey told reporters. “We’ve been able to get all our training done, all our miles. I feel really ready, and real happy with my team.”

“I’d like it to be,” Zirkle said when asked if it was her year to win the Iditarod.

“The team is not a wild card; it’s the best team I’ve ever had,” Zirkle said. “But it comes down to what a musher’s prepared for, what their skills are, if they make the right decisions at the right time.”

After Sunday’s start in Willow, mushers will travel nearly a thousand miles, crossing two mountain ranges, the Yukon River and up the Bering Sea coast en route to the finish line on Front Street in Nome, on Alaska’s western coast.

Photo by Molly Dischner/Alaska Journal of Commerce Jr. Iditarod champion Conway Seavey's dogs waited for the ceremonial start of the 42nd Iditarod Saturday March 1, 2014 in Anchorage. Seavey, of Sterling, led 69 other mushers in the ceremonial start from downtown Anchorage to the Campbell Creek Science Center.

Photo by Molly Dischner/Alaska Journal of Commerce Jr. Iditarod champion Conway Seavey’s dogs waited for the ceremonial start of the 42nd Iditarod Saturday March 1, 2014 in Anchorage. Seavey, of Sterling, led 69 other mushers in the ceremonial start from downtown Anchorage to the Campbell Creek Science Center.

Photo by Molly Dischner/Alaska Journal of Commerce  Handlers Jimmy Miller and David Phipps get Monica Zappa's dogs ready for the ceremonial start of the 42nd Iditarod Saturday March 1, 2014 in downtown Anchorage.

Photo by Molly Dischner/Alaska Journal of Commerce Handlers Jimmy Miller and David Phipps get Monica Zappa’s dogs ready for the ceremonial start of the 42nd Iditarod Saturday March 1, 2014 in downtown Anchorage.

More in News

Concert-goers listen to The Discopians at Concert on the Lawn on Saturday, July 12, 2025, at Karen Hornaday Park in Homer, Alaska. (Delcenia Cosman/Homer News)
‘Dancing at the end of the world’

KBBI AM 890 hosted their annual Concert on the Lawn Saturday.

Lisa Gabriel unfurls a set beach seine during a test fishery for the gear near Clam Gulch, Alaska, on Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Seine test fishery continues after board of fish calls for more data

The east side setnet fishery has been entirely closed in recent years to protect Kenai River king salmon

Jason Criss stands for a photo in Soldotna, Alaska, after being named a qualifier for the Special Olympics USA Games on Thursday, July 10, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Soldotna athlete to compete in 2026 Special Olympics USA Games

Thousands of athletes from across all 50 states will be competing in 16 sports.

The entrance to the Homer Electric Association office is seen here in Kenai, Alaska on May 7, 2020. (Photo by Brian Mazurek/Peninsula Clarion)
HEA opens bids for real property

The deadline to submit bids is 5 p.m. on Aug. 11.

Arturo Mondragon-Lopez, Jr. (right) attends a change of plea hearing related to the October 2023 fatal shooting of Brianna Hetrick on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025, at the Homer Courthouse in Homer, Alaska. (Delcenia Cosman/Homer News)
Mondragon-Lopez sentenced for death of Homer woman

Arturo Mondragon-Lopez, Jr. accepted a plea deal in February for the shooting of Brianna Hetrick.

Soldotna City Hall is seen on Wednesday, June 23, 2021 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Soldotna OKs $395,000 capital plan

This year’s list of capital projects is “nominal compared to some past years,” according to officials.

A map of areas proposed for annexation by the City of Soldotna. (Provided by City of Soldotna)
Soldotna adds annexation proposal to ballot

The proposed annexation is split across five small areas around the city.

Nets are extended from North Kenai Beach in Kenai, Alaska, during the first day of the Kenai River personal use dipnet fishery on Thursday, July 10, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
‘A really good day’

Kenai River personal use sockeye salmon dipnet fishery opens.

The entrance to the Kenai Peninsula Borough building in Soldotna is seen here on June 1. (Photo by Brian Mazurek/Peninsula Clarion)
Borough assembly to consider ordinance to increase residential property tax exemption

If approved by voters in October, the ordinance would increase the tax exemption by $25,000.

Most Read