By Yereth Rosen
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) – Dallas Seavey claimed a fifth Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race victory early Monday morning, reaching an improvised finish line on this year’s shortened course through the Alaskan wilderness just after 5 a.m. Alaska time.
Seavey, 34, completed this year’s shortened race in seven days, 14 hours and 8:57 minutes. In 2012, he became the youngest Iditarod champion.
The third-generation Iditarod musher has now tied Rick Swenson for the most victories. He was greeted at the finish line by his father, three-time champion Mitch Seavey, and will pocket about $40,000 in prize money.
For the first time ever, the Iditarod finish was not in Nome but in the same spot where the mushers had started on March 7: a secluded riverside location about 75 miles (120 km) north of Anchorage.
The race was drastically altered because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Instead of the traditional trek to Nome that spans nearly 1,000 miles (1,610 km), this year’s race was conducted on an 840-mile (1,350-km) out-and-back route on the southern part of the traditional trail.
This year saw no stopovers at Native villages along the way; checkpoints were set up in spots isolated from any communities.
Instead of drawing throngs of cheering fans, the race kept participants away for safety reasons. Access at the start, finish and the checkpoints was strictly limited to a minimal number of staffers, volunteers and competitors’ support teams, along with a small press pool.
Many other changes to this year’s race were forced by the pandemic.
The starting field of only 46 dog teams was one of the smallest in decades. Several mushers, including defending champion Thomas Waerner of Norway, were not able to travel with their dogs to Alaska because of coronavirus restrictions.
The ceremonial start in Anchorage, a March tradition that usually draws masses of fans and tourists to Alaska’s largest city, was canceled due to infection concerns.
Mushers, officials and volunteers were subject to frequent COVID-19 tests before and during the race. One musher, Gunnar Johnson of Minnesota, had to drop out on Wednesday after he tested positive for the virus.
Two potential race winners also suffered early exits. Aliy Zirkle, who has finished in second place three times, was severely injured in a fall on the second day of the race and evacuated by the Alaska National Guard to an Anchorage hospital.
Pete Kaiser, the 2019 champion and the first Native Yup’ik musher to win the race, scratched on Saturday after his dogs fell ill.
But some things were the same as in past years.
Mushers and dogs enjoyed unusually good snow conditions.
In fact, there was so much snow that race officials, in a late change, eliminated a planned 20-mile (32-km) loop at the turnaround point because the smaller crew of volunteers could not sufficiently break trail there.
Mushers and dogs endured some especially low temperatures along parts of the trail. The lowest temperature hit was minus 55 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 48 degrees Celsius), according to a news report from the trail.
(Reporting by Yereth Rosen in Anchorage, Alaska; Editing by)
