The 2021 Iditarod was the 49th edition of the

Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, more commonly known as The Iditarod, is an annual long-distance sled dog race run in early March. It travels from Anchorage to Nome, entirely within the US state of Alaska. Mushers and a team of between 12 a ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S ...

. The race began on Sunday, March 7, 2021, in

Anchorage, Alaska Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring ...

. 46 mushers participated in the race including past winners and noted racers

Aliy Zirkle Aliy Zirkle (born 1970 in New Hampshire) is an American champion of sled dog racing. Aliy Zirkle moved to Bettles, Alaska at age twenty and began mushing due to the remote nature of the town. She adopted six sled dogs and began learning how to ...

, Martin Buser,

Dallas Seavey Dallas Seavey (born March 4, 1987Deseret NewsDallas Seavey is youngest musher to win Iditarod March 14, 2012. URL last accessed 2012-10-29.) is an American dog musher, one of only two mushers to win the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race across the U.S ...

Peter Kaiser Peter Kaiser (born 4 December 1958) is an Austrian politician of the Social Democratic Party of Austria, Social Democratic Party. Since March 2013 he is List of governors of Carinthia, governor of Carinthia and since March 2010 also chairman of ...

Joar Leifseth Ulsom Joar Leifseth Ulsom (born 1987) is a Norwegian dog musher. He was born in Mo i Rana in the county of Nordland Nordland (; smj, Nordlánnda, sma, Nordlaante, sme, Nordlánda, en, Northland) is a county in Norway in the Northern Norwa ...

, and

Nicolas Petit Nicolas Petit is a French and American dog musher. He competes in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race and has finished in the top ten a number of times, including in 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 (when he finished in second place). He won the C ...

. The 2021 Iditarod was won by Dallas Seavey, who finished on March 15 with a total race time of 7 days, 14 hours, 8 minutes, and 57 seconds. Aaron Burmeister and

Brent Sass Brent Sass (born January 2, 1980, in Excelsior, Minnesota) is an American dog musher who is one of only six people to have won both the Iditarod and Yukon Quest sled dog races. The Yukon Quest is a 1,000 mile international sled dog race from ...

finished second and third, respectively. This was Seavey's fifth time winning the race.

Race format

On February 5, 2021, the race officials announced they had canceled the ceremonial start in Anchorage, which usually is an route through the city. Rather than restart at the usual checkpoint of Willow Lake, the 2021 race restarted at Deshka Landing in the

Susitna Valley Matanuska-Susitna Valley () (known locally as the Mat-Su or The Valley) is an area in Southcentral Alaska south of the Alaska Range about north of Anchorage, Alaska. It is known for the world record sized cabbages and other vegetables displayed ...

because of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

restrictions. Normally on odd-numbered years, the Iditarod races along the southern race route. However, because of the pandemic, the Iditarod Trail Committee decided to put together a new route, called the Iditarod Golden Trail Loop. The route utilizes portions of the traditional southern route up the checkpoint at the town of

Iditarod The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, more commonly known as The Iditarod, is an annual long-distance sled dog race run in early March. It travels from Anchorage to Nome, entirely within the US state of Alaska. Mushers and a team of between 12 a ...

, then goes to the

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * ''Ghost Town'' (1956 film), an American Western film by All ...

of Flat, which serves as a turnaround point. The rest of the route is then ran back along preexisting trail, ending in the town of

Willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist ...

. It is noted this route will require entrants to go through the Dalzell Gorge and Farewell Burn twice, two notorious sections of the route near the

Alaska Range The Alaska Range is a relatively narrow, 600-mile-long (950 km) mountain range in the southcentral region of the U.S. state of Alaska, from Lake Clark at its southwest endSources differ as to the exact delineation of the Alaska Range. ThBo ...

. No previous race route has attempted to traverse the Range twice, or backwards from a normal route. The 2021 race rules require the mandatory 24 hour layover, which is used to equalize the time differences in starting positions, to be used at or before the Iditarod checkpoint. The first of two mandatory eight hour layovers can be taken between Rohn checkpoint and the return to there, and the final layover will be taken at the town of Skwenta. Mushers were required to wear face masks, with strict

social distancing In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, (NB. Regula Venske is president of the PEN Centre Germany.) is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious dise ...

measures.

References

Iditarod 2021 in sports in Alaska

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