Iditarod 53 releases information on rerouted trail

After announcing Monday afternoon of the decision to change from a traditional southern route to a Fairbanks restart and reroute, the Iditarod gave out more information Monday on the planned trail. 

Most expected a route similar to what the race used in 2017 when teams ran to Huslia to honor the history of the village as well as pay tribute to one of Alaska's most famed mushers George Attla. That portion of trail got teams off the river and into different terrain, it also had teams camping on the trail between checkpoints - something that hasn't been a real thing on the Iditarod in decades. Many mushers spoke in reverence of their time in Huslia with Aaron Burmeister even stating he wished he wasn't racing so he could spend more time with the people of Huslia.

However, it seems with the late switch, a route involving Huslia is not in the cards. The race, instead, will still meet up with some of the checkpoints of the southern route (though not all, teams will not find themselves in the ghost town of Iditarod, for example). The race will have long runs on rivers as the teams make it to the coast, with a loop along the Yukon checkpoints (visiting several twice).

The checkpoint route will be as follows:

Fairbanks to Nenana
Nenana to Manley
Manley to Tanana
Tanana to Ruby
Ruby to Galena
Galena to Nulato
Nulato to Kaltag 1
Kaltag 1 to Eagle Island 1
Eagle Island 2 to Grayling 1
Grayling 1 to Anvik
Anvik to Shageluk [Loop back upriver]
Shageluk to Grayling 2
Grayling 2 to Eagle Island 2
Eagle Island 2 to Kaltag 2
Kaltag 2 to Unalakleet
Unalakleet to Shaktoolik
Shaktoolik to Koyuk
Koyuk to Elim
Elim to Golovin
Golovin to White Mountain
White Mountain to Safety
Safety to Nome

There's not been an official mileage given for the new route, but the race promises to update fans and mushers in the coming days with more information. 

Another issue will be the logistics of getting drop bags to the right checkpoints. Mushers had already delivered their bags to the Iditarod hangars to be shipped out - with some pallets having already made their way out onto the trail. Likewise the logistics of trail volunteers and trail breakers are now having to be replanned. It is a lot of logistical effort with very little time, but the race and mushers are all certain it will be done.

After all, 53 races ago they had NONE of what we will see this year.

With the restart being held in Fairbanks, the race will take a day between the Ceremonial Start and ReStart to get everyone safely to the starting line. The restart will take place on Monday, March 3 at 11am presumably from Pikes Landing heading down onto the Chena River. (This has not been confirmed at this time.)

In related news, Iditarod Insider won't skip a beat this year as they will have similiar infrastructure for their livefeeds as last year (aka Starlink). One of their sponsors has once again stepped up to pay for the service (Starlink is NOT a sponsor of Iditarod as of this date). This will have many loyal Insiders of "Iditarod Nation" very excited.

What do YOU think of the reroute? Will you be signing up for Insider? Comment with your thoughts below!

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