The Iron Dog or Iron Dog Race, originally known as the Iron Dog Gold Rush Classic and between 2000 and 2009 for sponsorship reasons as the Tesoro Iron Dog, is an off-road

snowmobile A snowmobile, also known as a snowmachine (chiefly Alaskan), motor sled (chiefly Canadian), motor sledge, skimobile, snow scooter, or simply a sled is a motorized vehicle designed for winter travel and recreation on snow. Their engines normally ...

race across

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

, USA. It normally starts on a Sunday in mid-February. At , it is the longest high speed cross-country snowmachine race in the world. A record forty-two teams entered the 2008 event. the total purse was

US $ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

210,500, with $50,000 awarded to the winners.

Course

The event began in 1984 as a race in Alaska from Big Lake near

Wasilla Wasilla ( Dena'ina: ''Benteh'') is a city in Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska, United States, and the fourth-largest city in Alaska. It is located on the northern point of Cook Inlet in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley of the southcentral part ...

Nome Nome may refer to: Country subdivision * Nome (Egypt), an administrative division within ancient Egypt * Nome (Greece), the administrative division immediately below the ''peripheries of Greece'' (, pl. ) Places United States * Nome, Alaska ...

. It was approximately doubled to at the 10th annual race in 1994. The race route now follows parts of the

Iditarod Trail The Iditarod Trail, also known historically as the Seward-to-Nome Trail, is a thousand-plus mile (1,600 km) historic and contemporary trail system in the US state of Alaska. The trail began as a composite of trails established by Alaska n ...

, the route 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 held in Alaska in early March. It travels from Anchorage to Nome. Mushers and a team of between 12 and 16 dogs, of which at lea ...

. It starts at Big Lake and follows the main trail and its connecting trails until it hits to the

Yukon River The Yukon River is a major watercourse of northwestern North America. From its source in British Columbia, it flows through Canada's territory of Yukon (itself named after the river). The lower half of the river continues westward through the U.S ...

Ruby Ruby is a pinkish-red-to-blood-red-colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum ( aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapph ...

. It follows the river to Kaltag before it heads to the

Norton Sound The Norton Sound ( Inupiaq: ''Imaqpak'') is an inlet of the Bering Sea on the western coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, south of the Seward Peninsula. It is about 240 km (150 mi) long and 200 km (125 mi) wide. The Yukon Riv ...

on the

Bering Sea The Bering Sea ( , ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre, p=ˈbʲerʲɪnɡəvə ˈmorʲe) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasse ...

at Unalakleet and it follows the coast to Nome. Then it returns along the same path in the reverse order to Ruby, where it diverges off its original path by following the Yukon River and its tributary the

Tanana River The Tanana River (Lower Tanana language, Lower Tanana: Tth'eetoo', Upper Tanana language, Upper Tanana: ''Tth’iitu’ Niign'') is a tributary of the Yukon River in the U.S. state of Alaska. According to linguist and anthropologist William Brig ...

until the competitors finish in Fairbanks. The route changes from time to time; total length has been 1,971 to 2,031 miles since 1993, extended to 2,031 miles in 2011. the fastest time since 1994 was 35 hours 39 minutes 56 seconds by Marc McKenna & Dusty VanMeter on a Ski-Doo in 2012, although this figure is dependent upon route length and conditions rather than being a straightforward record; fastest times have exceeded 71 hours. The most current record time was set in 2016 by Tyler Aklestad and Tyson Johnson on

Ski-Doo Ski-Doo is a brand name of snowmobile manufactured by Bombardier Recreational Products (originally Bombardier Inc. before the spin-off). The Ski-Doo personal snowmobile brand is so iconic, especially in Canada, that it was listed in 17th pla ...

snowmobiles with a time of 17 hours 32 minutes and 44 seconds.

Safety

Races are typically run in temperatures well below freezing, and -20 °F (-30 °C) to -50 °F (-45 °C) air temperatures are common without taking

wind chill Wind chill (popularly wind chill factor) is the sensation of cold produced by the wind for a given ambient air temperature on exposed skin as the air motion accelerates the rate of heat transfer from the body to the surrounding atmosphere. Its va ...

into effect. Some drivers apply

duct tape Duct tape or duck tape is cloth- or scrim-backed pressure-sensitive tape, often coated with polyethylene. A variety of constructions exist using different backings and adhesives, and the term "duct tape" has been genericized to refer to all o ...

to their faces to protect against

frostbite Frostbite is a skin injury that occurs when someone is exposed to extremely low temperatures, causing the freezing of the skin or other tissues, commonly affecting the fingers, toes, nose, ears, cheeks and chin areas. Most often, frostbite occ ...

. The machines are equipped with tall windshields for protection from the cold. Drivers compete in two-driver, two-sled teams for their safety since they travel through remote areas of Alaska. Teams are required to take three six-hour breaks between Nome and Tanana. They also take a 42-hour break in Nome to recuperate before they start making their return. Sleds are impounded during the break, ensuring that they rest since they are not able to work on their sleds. the race had never had a fatality, although there had been close calls.

Winners

(Cumulative wins shown in parentheses.) *1: 1984 John Faeo (1) / Rod Frank (1) *2: 1985 Scott Davis (1) / Gary Eoff (1) *3: 1986 John Faeo (2) / Dan Zipay (1) *4: 1987 John Faeo (3) / Dan Zipay (2) *5: 1988 John Faeo (4) / Dan Zipay (3) *6: 1989 Scott Davis (2) / Mark Torkelson (1) *7: 1990 John Faeo (5) / Bob Gilman (1) *8: 1991 John Faeo (6) / Bob Gilman (2) *9: 1992 Dan Zipay (4) / Evan Booth (1) *10: 1993 Scott Davis (3) / Bill Long (1) *11: 1994 Evan Booth (2) / Dan Zipay(5) *12: 1995 Todd Palin (1) / Dwayne Drake(1) *13: 1996 John Faeo (7) / Bob Gilman (3) *14: 1997 Mark Carr (1) / Scott Davis (4) *15: 1998 Mark Carr (2) / Scott Davis (5) *16: 1999 Mark Carr (3) / Scott Davis (6) *17: 2000 Todd Palin (2) / Dusty VanMeter (1) ro Steve Deptula (1) / Pat Reilly (1)

asters ''Aster'' is a genus of perennial flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. Its circumscription has been narrowed, and it now encompasses around 170 species, all but one of which are restricted to Eurasia; many species formerly in ''Aster'' are ...

*18: 2001 Tracey Brassard (1) / Ken Lee (1) ro Jack Bronner (1) / Mike Lindeen (1)

*19: 2002 Todd Palin (3) / Dusty VanMeter (2) *—: 2003 ''Race canceled due to lack of snow'' *20: 2004 Mark Carr (4) / Dusty VanMeter (3) *21: 2005 Marc McKenna (1 ) / Nick Olstad (1) *22: 2006 Dwayne Drake (2) / Andy George (1) *23: 2007 Todd Palin (4) / Scott Davis (7) *24: 2008 Marc McKenna (2) / Eric Quam (1) *25: 2009 Todd Minnick (1) / Nick Olstad (2) *26: 2010 Chris Olds (1) / Tyler Huntington (1) *27: 2011 Chris Olds (2) / Tyler Huntington (2) *28: 2012 Marc McKenna (3) / Dusty VanMeter (4) *29: 2013 Marc McKenna (4) / Dusty VanMeter (5) *30: 2014 Todd Minnick (1) / Nick Olstad (2) *31: 2015 Scott Faeo (1) / Eric Quam (2) *32: 2016 Tyler Aklestad (1) / Tyson Johnson (1) *33: 2017 Cory Davis (1) / Ryan Simons (1) *34: 2018 Mike Morgan (1) / Chris Olds (3) *35: 2019 Mike Morgan (2) / Chris Olds (4) *36: 2020 Tyler Aklestad (2) / Nick Olstad (3) *37: 2021 Brad George (1) / Robert Schachle (1) *38: 2022 Tyler Aklestad (3) / Nick Olstad (4) *39: 2023 Tyler Aklestad (4) / Nick Olstad (5) *40: 2024 Cody Barber (1) / Brett Lapham (1)

References

External links

* *{{Commons category-inline 1984 establishments in Alaska Annual events in Alaska Sports competitions in Alaska Snowmobile racing Motorsport competitions in the United States Recurring sporting events established in 1984