Two more races cancel 2026 events

While the Copper Basin 300 is set to be an exciting race in Alaska this weekend, two races announced they would not run in 2026. As Alaska sees record cold temps and record snow accumulation (thinking of you, Juneau!) the Lower 48 is still waiting for winter weather causing races to continue to cancel or postpone in hopes of better conditions. And another beloved race is looking at an uncertain future with a cancelation fans did not see coming.

Late Wednesday Morning (Pacific Time) the Eagle Cap Extreme Sled Dog Race announced that the race scheduled for January 22 is canceled. Citing lack of snow to be able to put in safe trails, the race took to Facebook to deliver the news. "We held off making this decision for a few days because of the current storm cycle approaching the area," the race wrote.

"I spoke with a forecaster at the National Weather Service yesterday to get a better idea as to the storm track and timing," the missive continued. "It turns out the forecast was pretty accurate and the storm has tracked well north of us leaving us with rain and a very light dusting of snow. This morning saw lots of blue sky in Wallowa County. Going into next week, we are seeing a warming trend with no additional significant moisture."

The Eagle Cap is the only Iditarod and Quest Qualifier run in Oregon and while the rosters are smaller than what Canadian and Alaska races see, it's a healthy one with many loyal kennels. Comments from mushers and fans alike flooded the Facebook announcement Wednesday with most being grateful for the early announcement so they could make arrangements to run other races outside of Oregon. Others asked if for future years an optional second site for the race could be chosen. 

Wednesday afternoon saw the second cancelation announcement, this one coming from Canada. From an article on the CBC website, the mushing community learned that there will not be a Yukon Quest run in Canada in 2026. The race was scheduled to run on January 31, but little had been released about the race. The Quest in 2025 chose to lock its Facepook posts down not allowing anyone to comment on what they shared. It had many side-eying the race and wondering just what was going on with the beloved event.

While the official reason for the race seems to be something of "volunteer burnout" with the board of directors, there seems to be a little more to it. In the CBC article former board members chimed in with their thoughts and disappointments on the organization. Citing challenges like climate change, trail changes, and community support - it seems the race has no shortage of excuses for why things couldn't come together in 2026.

Pointedly one musher who was a former board member made note that the way the organization handled this year's race information was "disrespectful to mushers." 

This year's race was planned to only be a one hundred mile race, about 350 miles shorter than last year's Quest, and 900miles shorter than its original structure of a cross border race into Alaska. The 1000mile race ended in 2022 when the two boards that ran the International race decided to divorce each other over organizational disagreements (the most public one being about rest schedules and how to track rest). Some also argue that the dwindling roster numbers made it continually difficult to run a successful race with a purse participants came to expect from the race.

This year the Alaskan version of the Quest is set to take place February 7 and has a 750mile loop trail starting and ending in Fairbanks planned with a decent number of mushers signed up to run.

Are you surprised by today's cancelations? Thoughts on the Yukon Quest issues? Comment below with your thoughts!

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Iditarod to decide February 3 which trail to use

In an announcement today that surprises probably no one, the Iditarod Trail Committee announced that they are currently monitoring trail and weather conditions and will come to a decision by February 3, 2025 what to do.

The state of Alaska has had an incredibly unusual winter. Temperatures well above freezing for most if not all of the state. Rain instead of snow has been the norm since December for South Central Alaska. Anchorage, Alaska over the weekend dealt with Hurricane force winds and rain wiping away the last bit of winter everywhere.

This is not the norm, and with it has come a lot of uncertainty for the Last Great Race.

Currently the race is scheduled to hold its Ceremonial Start on March 2 in Anchorage, Alaska with the ReStart to be held in Willow the following day. Snow is often trucked in from outside of Anchorage to put down a trail through the streets and paths of Anchorage for the eleven mile jaunt. In 2016, the race could not make it the full eleven miles due to lack of snow, but they managed to pull off a three mile run ending at the little league ball fields. It wasn't ideal, but it worked. At this time, there's no reason to assume they can't find a similar alternative this year should the snow continue to allude the 49th state.

The big unknown is what trail will the actual race take off from. Currently Willow is reporting above freezing temps and rain mixed with snow - but they do have snow, and they have trails. They're one of the few places that can boast some sort of winter. However, the weather over the weekend with the wind and rain did a lot of damage to many of the trails that Iditarod uses to leave from Willow Lake on their way to Yentna. 

Compounding the problem are the reports that the Susitna River has not frozen over. The Su is one of the many river highways Alaskans use in the winter to get from point A to point B. The Iditarod uses this "super highway" in the early days of the race. In fact, without a frozen Susitna, there is not a good way to get to Nome from Willow. 

Fairbanks has seen quite a bit of warm temps - hitting the 50s this weekend - but they still have snow, and ways to get to the West Coast that does not require swimming. Hopefully. If they choose to do the Fairbanks start it will be the fourth time in race history (the three years prior being 2003, 2015, and 2017 - all of which had normal Ceremonial Starts). A restart in Fairbanks would have the race take off on Monday instead of Sunday, and would likely have about a day earlier finish.

On the opposite end of the trail, Nome is lacking snow and looking more like South Central Alaska with little to no snow in town or out. This is not the only town on the West Coast of Alaska to have winter weather problems. The Kuskokwim Delta has had its issues with above freezing temps, winds, and rain. Several of the Delta Championship Series races have had to be postponed, and there's talk that the Kusko 300 is in jeopardy of starting on time. 

Fans should not worry about a full cancelation of Iditarod 53. As long as there is snow (or even possibly a hint of it) they will do their best to find a way. The Iditarod has never been cancelled in the history of the race, and while there is always the posibility of a first time, the Iditarod took to social media Monday night to assure fans that they are in no way planning to cancel.

The Iditarod Trail Committee will make the decision by 5pm on February 3, 2025. 

What do you think? Fairbanks for the start? Will they get to do the full Ceremonial Start? Comment below with your thoughts.

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