Hey, you changed my Iditarod curriculum!
"The Iditarod
follows the southern route in odd years and the northern route in even
years."
Yes, we know that! We’re used to swapping
the maps back and forth when we teach kids about the “Last Great Race.”
"The ceremonial
start is held in Anchorage on the first Saturday in March, and the official
restart takes place in Willow Lake on Sunday." We know
that, too, and we always explain the reason for this two-stage start to the
kids.
The southern route/northern route,
start/restart explanations are a little complicated, but we're all well-versed
in it. So it was quite a jolt for everybody
who pays regular visits to the Iditarod website to learn yesterday that the restart will
now take place in Fairbanks, that it will happen on Monday instead of Sunday,
and that on top of all that we’ll have some new checkpoints on the early part
of the trail. But it’s all for a good
reason, and luckily the website’s education portal is ready to supply the new
information that teachers need about this year’s Fairbanks Route.
What’s the reason for the change? Simply put, it’s safety—for both dogs and
mushers. According to a four-person committee that just flew over portions of
the trail with racing staff, conditions going out from Willow Lake are very
poor right now and expected to be just as poor the first weekend in March. The committee was unanimous in moving the
restart to the much-colder, much-snowier location of Fairbanks, where the risks
of paw injuries and broken sled runners will be much lower!
The reason for moving the restart
forward a day is the distance between Anchorage and Fairbanks.
Here’s a map just released by the Iditarod
Trail Committee:
