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Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
IDITAROD NOTEBOOK: News from the Trail for 2025
Editor's note: This story will be updated as the mushers advance in the 2025 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Check back for more details. Richard Arlin WalkerICT Thirty-three mushers and dog teams set off from Fairbanks to Nome on Monday, March 3, in the 53rd Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. This year's race is unique in many ways. Here are some highlights. Serum Run: The 2025 Iditarod takes place during the 100th anniversary of the Serum Run of 1925, a relay of mushers and dog teams that fended off a diphtheria epidemic by delivering antitoxin to remote Alaska communities. The sled dog had been part of Alaska Native life for centuries, but – thanks to coverage in newspapers and on radio – the Serum Run of 1925 cemented the Alaska sled dog in the world's eyes as a symbol of grit and tenacity. Family ties: The Iditarod was founded in 1973 to keep alive the heritage of the Alaska sled dog, which was being supplanted by snow machines (snowmobiles, to you lower 48ers). This year's race features several mushers with family ties to the first Iditarod: past champion Ryan Redington, grandson of race founder Joe Redington Sr.; three-time champion Mitch Seavey, whose father Dan competed in the first and 40th Iditarods, and several other in between; Jason Mackey, whose father Dick raced in the first Iditarod and won the race in 1978; and Brenda Mackey, Dick's granddaughter and Jason's niece. All told, six Mackeys, six Redingtons and six Seaveys have raced in the Iditarod. The Mackeys have produced three champions, the Seaveys two, and the Redingtons one. Climate change: This year's race casts the spotlight, as it has in past years, on a changing climate in Alaska. An estimated 114 Alaska Native communities 'face some degree of infrastructure damage from erosion, flooding or permafrost melt,' the Associated Press reported, quoting a January 2024 report from the Alaska Native Health Tribal Consortium. Thawing permafrost is causing riverbank loss along the Kuskokwim and the Yukon rivers. Several pre-Iditarod mid-distance races were canceled or rescheduled this year because of unusually warm weather and lack of snow; the Iditarod was also affected. The race usually starts in Willow and ends in Nome, a distance of 975 or 998 miles, depending on a route that alternates between odd and even years. But because of hazardous trail conditions resulting from lack of snow, this year's race start was moved to Fairbanks. The race distance increased by about 130 miles. Mushers and dog teams will check in at Nenana, Manley, Tanana, Ruby, Galena, Nulato, Kaltag, Eagle Island, Grayling, Anvik, Shageluk, Unalakleet, Shaktoolik, Koyuk, Elim, White Mountain and Safety before reaching Nome. Total distance: 1,128 miles, according to the Iditarod Race Committee. Strategy and endurance: Mushers and dog teams are required to take one 24-hour rest and two eight-hour rests, although mushers generally feed and rest their teams as needed off-trail or at checkpoints. Training, nutrition, pace and timing of rests are all part of a team's strategy. But that was upended with the move of the race start to Fairbanks. The route from Fairbanks to Nome is flatter than Willow to Nome, and mushers may decide to travel farther before taking their required 24-hour rest. But they'll have to contend with conditions along the Yukon River. 'If you've been on the lower Yukon River, where that river is a mile wide, if there's a wind it's just like being on the Bering Sea coast,' Iditarod veteran Bruce Lee said on Iditarod Insider. 'The trail blows in and it can be very challenging, physically and mentally, for both mushers and dogs.' Representing the underrepresented: Ryan Redington, Inupiaq, is one of six Alaska Natives to win the Iditarod but is the only Indigenous Alaskan in this year's race. A retired Iditarod veteran, Mike Williams Sr., Yup'ik, said in earlier interviews that the cost of flying in food and supplies and taking time off from work to travel to good training grounds is expensive for rural Alaska Native mushers. Another musher, 2019 champion Peter Kaiser, Yup'ik, said he's taking a break after a tough training season made tougher by lack of snow. Alaska Native mushers were once a dominant force in the Iditarod. The race was won by Alaska Natives in 1974, 1975, 1976, 2011, 2019 and 2023. The top three finishers in 1974 and 2023 were Alaska Natives. And 2011 champion John Baker, Inupiaq, is the sixth-winningest Iditarod musher of all time, with a total of $602,658 in earnings in 22 races. Williams said he hopes the Alaska Native presence in the Iditarod will rebuild. For him, it's a culturally significant event: sled dogs have been part of Alaska Native life for centuries, he said, and in the Iditarod mushers travel ancestral routes the way their ancestors did. Iditarod rookie Emily Ford is African-American, an Alaska transplant from Duluth, Minnesota, and a veteran of several challenging mid-distance races. She's mushing in the Iditarod because 'I want to continue to represent Black people in cold places.' She noted in her Iditarod biography the influence of Black cold-weather pioneers, among them North Pole expeditioner Matthew Henson, and Iditarod finishers Becca Moore and Newton Marshall. 'With an understanding and drive to show that anyone can adventure and everyone deserves to discover the outdoors, regardless of race, gender identity or upbringing, I continue to seek adventure and represent the underrepresented in outdoor spaces,' Ford said in her bio. A look at the competition: The field of 33 mushers includes 17 veterans and 16 rookies from four countries (Canada, Denmark, Norway, U.S.) and seven U.S. states (Alaska, Idaho, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Wisconsin). Three mushers are well-known from reality TV: Lauro Eklund, 'Mountain Men'; Jessie Holmes, 'Life Below Zero'; and Quince Mountain, 'Naked and Afraid'. Two mushers are past Iditarod champions: Ryan Redington, 2023; and Mitch Seavey, 2017, 2013, 2004. Nine have finished in the top 10, three are past second-place finishers. Seavey is by far the most seasoned musher, having competed in 27 Iditarods with 18 top 10 finishes. Redington has completed 10 Iditarods and has four top 10 finishes. Several 2025 Iditarod competitors tested their mettle in respected mid-distance races in January and February. Redington finished second in the Joe Redington Sr. Memorial Sled Dog Race, an annual 200-mile race that starts in Knik. Holmes won the Copper Basin 300, an annual 300-mile race that starts in Glennallen. Michelle Phillips won the 450-mile Yukon Quest, an annual race that starts in Teslin. No small task: Competing in the Iditarod is a logistical feat. Mushers drop food bags and bales of straw for dog beds at each checkpoint before the race. Volunteers staff checkpoints, make coffee, log musher and dog team's arrival and departure times, and do veterinary health checks. BY THE NUMBERSHere's a look at some of the numbers, from the Iditarod Trail Committee.*Pounds of dog food: 180,000*Dog booties: 100,000*Bales of straw: 1,200*Cups of coffee: 25,000*Number of volunteers: 1,500
The Independent
03-03-2025
- Climate
- The Independent
Mushers begin rugged Iditarod race after lack of snow forces major changes to iconic Alaska event
The rugged Iditarod started Monday, but a dearth of snow has forced the iconic dog sled race to start further north and added a new route that allows mushers to bypass barren land, but lengthens by more than 100 miles (160.93 kilometers) an unforgiving journey that's often measured in grit and attrition. The new course reroutes mushers and their dog teams around a difficult stretch of trail north of the Alaska Range, which is treacherous with snow and ice but mostly unpassable in dry conditions for sleds. The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is usually billed as a 1,000-mile (1,609-kilometer) race across Alaska. The route change means it's now 1,128 miles (1,815 kilometers). Mushers began their trek to the finish line in Nome from Fairbanks, the fourth time this century the race has been forced north from the Anchorage area. A lack of snow in the Anchorage area also caused headaches for race organizers Saturday during the ceremonial start. The parade-like route in Anchorage usually has mushers taking a leisurely course over 11 miles (17.70 kilometers) of city streets and trails with an auction winner riding in their sled. However, weeks of little-to-no new snowfall and warm temperatures in Alaska's largest city forced organizers to shorten the ceremonial start to less than 2 miles (3.22 kilometers), run over snow that was trucked in to cover downtown city streets. There are 33 mushers in this year's race, tied with the 2023 race for smallest field ever. Among them are two former champions, Ryan Redington and three-time winner Mitch Seavey. Mushers and their dog teams will battle the worst of what wild Alaska can throw at them — from bad trails, mushing on frozen rivers and sea ice and possible encounters with wildlife with the winner expected in the old Gold Rush town of Nome on the Bering Sea coast in about 10 days. This year the Iditarod will honor another famous mushing event, the 1925 Serum Run, in which sled dog teams saved Nome from a deadly diphtheria outbreak.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Alaskans failing to make progress toward most health improvements sought by 2030
A dog in musher Paige Drobny's team, lined up for the March 5, 2022, ceremonial start, wears a jacket urging vaccination. This year is the 100th anniversary of the Serum Run that used sled dog teams to deliver life-saving diphtheria medicine to Nome. The Iditarod race course includes part of the route used by the serum teams, and the Iditarod has frequently called attention to that historic event and the value of childhood vaccinations. Still, fewer than two-thirds of young Alaska children have received their full suite of combined diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccines, state health officials say. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon) Midway through the decade, Alaskans have failed to make significant progress toward the health targets in numerous categories, according to an annual tracking report issued by state and tribal officials. The latest Healthy Alaskans 2030 update, compiled in December, shows a lack of progress in reducing rates of drug- and alcohol-related deaths, continued sedentary behavior among adolescents, failure to improve what are now inadequate rates of prenatal care for pregnant women and well-child care for young children and continued high rates of death from accidental injuries and suicide, among other measures. The Healthy Alaskans program is a partnership between the Alaska Department of Health and the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium. The program sets decade-scale targets for improvements in a wide variety of health metrics, with progress updated in annual status reports. The latest report shows areas where continued work is needed, as well as areas where there have been successes, said Andrea Fenaughty, a state public health manager and member of the Healthy Alaskans 2030 team. She and other health officials presented the status report findings on Tuesday at the annual Alaska Public Health Association Summit, held in Anchorage. 'Even though we look at the data every year, we're not really expecting that halfway through the decade we would have met all the targets because they're really to be met for 2030,' Fenaughtly said. 'That said, it is important to monitor every year.' 'All of this is useful information for all our partners across the state who are working on all of these health objectives so they can refocus their efforts where they need to,' she added. Of the 30 statewide Healthy Alaskans 2030 objectives, 20 showed no improvement. There were seven objectives for which 2030 targets had been met, two for which there have been progress and one for which data was missing. Among the Healthy Alaskans 2030 objectives specific to Indigenous residents, there was no improvement in 14. Targets were met for two, improvement was recorded for eight and there was insufficient data for six. A notable shortcoming highlighted in the annual status report is a decline in childhood vaccinations for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis. The combined diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis vaccine, commonly known as DTaP, should be administered four times to children before they are 2 years old, according to state and federal medical guidelines. The Healthy Alaskans 2030 objective is for 90% compliance with that recommendation by the end of the decade. But currently, only about 63% of Alaska children between 2 and 3 years old had received the full course of four vaccine doses, said Eliza Ramsey, an epidemiologist working on a fellowship at the state Department of Health. The low rate is poignant in 2025. This year is the 100th anniversary of the deadly diphtheria outbreak in Nome that resulted in the famous delivery of medicine by sled-dog teams. The 1925 Serum Run, which brought medicine from Fairbanks to Nome, uses part of what is now the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race course. This year's 100th anniversary has inspired numerous commemorative events in Nome, Anchorage and elsewhere. There have been no diphtheria cases in Alaska in the past 25 years, said Ramsey, who made a presentation at the summit about the history of the Nome outbreak and the serum run. However, Alaska, like much of the country, has faced a big increase in pertussis, also known as whooping cough. A notable improvement cited in the Healthy Alaskans status report concerns smoking and the use of electronic cigarettes. Alaskans have already met state health officials' 2030 targets for dropping their dependence on those products, according to the status report. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Christy Knight, manager of the state's Tobacco Prevention and Control Program, summarized tobacco-focused policy actions stretching back to the 1990s. Those included laws raising the age of legal purchase and hiking taxes – both actions aimed at reducing youth access to tobacco products – and a 2018 state law guaranteeing that workplaces and enclosed public places are smoke-free, she said. A pending legislative effort would impose the first Alaska state tax on e-cigarette projects. The bill, Senate Bill 24, is sponsored by Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak. It is the third time he has introduced such a bill; the Legislature passed his first bill in 2023, but Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed it. Knight, speaking at the conference, described other tobacco-reduction efforts that concern education and help for users who want to quit, she said. Her program has 'a long list' of partners that help with those projects, she said. She listed Breathe Free Alaska and its regional affiliates, the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association and AARP, among others. 'It's a comprehensive effort to make the change that we're trying to make in reducing tobacco use in our state,' she said. Another bright spot concerns sugary drinks. Among children three years old and younger, the Health Alaskans 2030 target for reducing consumption of such drinks has already been achieved, the status report said. The state's Play Every Day campaign includes public messages urging parents to avoid giving their children sugar-laden drinks. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
