The Iditarod.
Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
Where does the Iditarod start?
2025 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race – Fairbanks to Nome Alaska
“Celebrating the Hundredth Anniversary of the Heroic Sled Dog Serum Run!”
The 2025 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is also known as “The Last Great Race.” It’s now scheduled to run from Fairbanks to Nome, moving it closer to its original historic route.
March 3, 2025, marks the fourth time in history that the Iditarod will restart in Fairbanks.
The Iditarod Trail Committee made the announcement on February 17, 2025. After conditions on some portions of the trail south of Fairbanks were deemed unpassable.
Fairbanks is located in the center of Alaska. With a population just under 100,000, it’s well equipped for hosting the renowned Iditarod. Pike’s Waterfront Lodge on the Chena River will be the headquarters and location for the restart.
History: 1925, the Serum Run, Gunnar Kaasen & Lead Dog Balto
Dog mushing is Alaska’s official state sport. It was a reliable form of transportation for hundreds of years.
This is shown by “The Serum Run” of 1925. When heroic dogs and mushers became life savers in an incredible race against time. The Iditarod was inspired by this legendary journey that began just south of Fairbanks in the town of Nenana.
And ended 674 miles later in the small city of Nome which was facing a diphtheria outbreak. A 20-pound cylinder of diphtheria serum traveled via the Alaska Railroad from Seward to Nenana. It was there that the serum began its grueling trip to Nome. With the help of 20 mushers and more than 100 dogs.
100 Years Ago! Fighting Fierce Blizzards, Gunnar Kaasen and His Lead Dog Balto Reached Nome, Alaska, With Serum To Save Children Sick With Diphtheria
This epic run was accomplished in only five days when Gunnar Kaasen and his lead dog Balto arrived in Nome on February 2, 1925.
The Iditarod will bring an added boost of energy and excitement to Fairbanks’ already event-filled March.
There will be mild temperatures and plenty of sunshine. This time of year has one-of-a-kind events. Like the World Ice Art Championships, where more than 50 international ice sculptors turn enormous blocks of ice into works of art. Travelers will journey to the Fairbanks area from all over the world from August 21 through April 21. which is also known as the Aurora Season. Located under the Auroral Oval, Fairbanks offers a good of clear nights. And a great chance to see the amazing Northern Lights.
More than a Dog Race
In addition to outdoor fun, there are plenty of museums, art galleries and creative performances to enjoy. Be sure to make the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center your first stop in Fairbanks. There you can find information on things to do during your stay.
The Iditarod: History Before 1925
Portions of the Iditarod Trail were used by the Native Alaskan Inupiaq and Athabaskan peoples hundreds of years before the arrival of Russian fur traders in the 1800s.
But the trail reached its peak between the late 1880s and the mid-1920s as miners arrived to dig coal and later gold. Especially after the Alaska gold rush at Nome in 1898, when sourdoughs poured in from the booming Canadian Klondike. And again at the “Inland Empire” along the Kuskokwim Mountains between the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers, in 1908.
The steamship was the primary communication and transportation link to the rest of the world during the summer. But between October and June the northern ports like Nome became icebound. And dog sleds delivered mail, firewood, mining equipment, gold ore, food, furs, and other needed supplies. All along the trading posts and settlements across the Interior and along the western coast.
Roadhouses where travellers could spend the night sprang up every 14 to 30 miles until the end of the 1920s. That’s when the mail carriers were replaced by bush pilots flying small aircraft, and the roadhouses vanished. Dog sledding persisted in the rural parts of Alaska. But was almost driven into extinction by the increased use of snowmobiles in the 1960s.[1]
It was sled dog races that kept the tradition alive!
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Read this story of the Wolf who rescued a Husky!
READ WOLFBLOOD — MY MOST POPULAR ANIMAL YARN: “I LOVE THE HAPPY ENDING!”
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An “entertaining and affectionate” narrative in the Jack London Tradition. Story of a lone Gray Wolf and his quest for a place in the far-flung forests of the feral North. WOLFBLOOD: A Wild Wolf, A Half-Wild Husky & A Wily Old Trapper
To learn more about the The Last Great Race, visit www.iditarod.com. For more information on Fairbanks, request a free copy of the Fairbanks Visitors Guide and Winter Guide. You can call 1-800-327-5774 or (907) 456-5774. Order or view the guides online, get information about the Aurora Borealis and see a robust schedule of winter events and activities online at www.explorefairbanks.com. Explore Fairbanks is a non-profit marketing and management organization. Its mission is to be an economic driver in the Fairbanks region.
[1] “The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is an annual long-distance sled dog race held in Alaska in early March. It usually travels from Anchorage to Nome. Mushers and a team of between 12 and 16 dogs…” Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
SOURCE Explore Fairbanks, PRNewswire & Civilized Bears
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