With latest heat climate and snowy circumstances in Alaska’s Interior and Southcentral, the 2023 Iron Dog guarantees to be a troublesome race. Twenty-five pairs of racers within the professional class will depart Big Lake Friday morning, Feb. 17, to compete on the earth’s longest cross-country snowmachine competitors. They will traverse greater than 2,500 miles of difficult, backcountry terrain, pausing at 21 checkpoints, together with a midway cease in Nome.
In 2020 the race organizers added an additional 470-mile loop to Kotzebue, which the rivals will run in the other way this 12 months (clockwise as a substitute of counterclockwise). After a compulsory maintain in Kotzebue on Sunday evening, Feb. 19, the groups ought to all arrive in Nome someday in the course of the afternoon of Monday, Feb. 20.
“Different from years past, you should have all the teams here within a three or four-hour window in daylight,” Doug Dixon, president of the Iron Dog board, informed the Nugget final week when he was visiting Nome with different race organizers. “I think it’s going to provide a lot more excitement here.”
Stacey Green of Nome, who’s on the Iron Dog board of administrators, stated he’s introducing one other native change that ought to make it simpler for onlookers to go to with the racers.
“Traditionally, we’ve been stopped on the road, where the clock stops and starts on the ramp,” Green stated. But this 12 months he plans to document the racers’ instances after which escort them straight to City Hall, the place an enormous inflatable arch will likely be arrange on Front Street. Nome will host the midway ceremonies and banquet on the Mini Convention Center on Tuesday, Feb. 21. Then, the subsequent morning, the groups will depart from the ramp.
“Hopefully you get good weather, no wind, mild temperatures and you’ll have a crowd,” Dixon stated.
Hometown racers put together
Weather has already thrown a wrench into the rivals’ coaching schedules. Heavy snow was falling on the McGrath space, reducing off racers who wished to do a full coaching run of the course, together with Mike Morgan of Nome.
“Mother Nature dictates everything, and here she is again, showing us who’s boss,” stated Morgan, who’s making ready to embark on his 14th run.
Morgan and his teammate Chris Olds of Eagle River are hungry for one more win after ending second within the 2022 Iron Dog, with a time of 56 hours, 22 minutes and 21 seconds. Tyler Aklestad and Nick Olstad had been final 12 months’s winners, ending in 53 hours, 27 minutes and 21 seconds, and they are going to be competing once more this 12 months. Morgan and Olds beforehand gained the Iron Dog twice, in 2018 and 2019, and Olds has two extra victories beneath his belt, 2010 and 2011, with a distinct group companion. That second-place end “does’’t sit well with me or Chris,” Morgan stated. “We’ve been working hard and we’re trying to get back on top. We have really high expectations for ourselves.”
For the second 12 months in a row, the pair will likely be racing on Polaris Cross Country 600 sleds, created on the Matryx platform. They have been working with Polaris on creating these limited-build race sleds after beforehand utilizing consumer-based fashions.
“We’re putting a lot of miles on equipment, and we’re taking these things through the roughest terrain in the country, so they get a lot of valuable feedback from us,” Morgan stated.
After a really “physically demanding” race final 12 months, with heat climate creating some messy circumstances within the Interior, Morgan stated he’s anticipating an much more difficult run this 12 months.
“We’ve got a ton of snow in the Interior, even more so than we had last year, which is going to create a really rough scenario,” he stated. “It’s like déjà vu all over again from last year. We got the warm weather, we got the deep snow, which creates the bumps that get twice as big. You just have to be tough, and you have to be mentally prepared for those rough days.”
In the face of these challenges, Morgan stated he’ll attempt to protect a way of normalcy on the path.
“I brought my French press in the plane last year,” Morgan stated. (His father, Stan Morgan, would be the pilot for the group, following them within the help airplane.) “I’ll probably do the same thing this year so I can maintain my morning regimen. It helps me start my day out on a good note, and I always try to eat a big breakfast with eggs and bacon. A big part of Iron Dog really is staying on pace.”
The race certainly not solely requires velocity but in addition technique, because the groups should determine on the perfect path to take and make choices about when to relaxation and refuel. Morgan stated he warns much less skilled rivals that their race can begin to unravel once they deviate from a traditional schedule. He tells them they’ll have a a lot simpler time if they only set incremental objectives to make it to a sure checkpoint earlier than nighttime, get their relaxation, get their meals and get their hydration.
“When you’re riding at night when you’re usually asleep, you’re making poor decisions because you’re tired,” Morgan stated. “Things snowball really fast in Iron Dog. You just got to be on top of things and stay organized and stay focused.”
The race calls for a substantial amount of teamwork, too, because the riders should help one another alongside the way in which and ensure that they each attain the end line. Morgan stated that he and Olds are “pretty much brothers at this point.”
“We just keep communication open,” he stated. “We fight like brothers sometimes, and we have different opinions on certain things sometimes, but we’ve got a common goal and we just do whatever it takes to meet that common goal.”
A pair of precise brothers from Nome will likely be racing on this 12 months’s Iron Dog, too. Jordan and Jarvis Miller are making ready to hit the path once more after ending seventh in final 12 months’s race. They additionally tried the race collectively in 2021 however needed to scratch at Puntilla. In 2019, when Jarvis competed in his first Iron Dog, he was named Rookie of the Year and completed in fifth place with teammate Amos Cruise of McGrath.
The brothers are hoping to get 2,500 miles value of follow forward of the race, however their coaching was additionally stymied by the circumstances within the Interior.
“The race snowmachines are not really set up for opening up trails,” Jordan stated. “When you get stuck, that’s 650 pounds that you got to get unstuck.”
The Millers will likely be racing Ski-Doo 600 competitors sleds this 12 months, almost an identical to the sleds they used final 12 months. The brothers stated they’re doing extra coaching out of Anchorage this 12 months to get used to using within the timber to allow them to be extra aggressive with the racers who’re from that space. But additionally they see some benefits in being intimately acquainted with the sorts of circumstances snowmachiners face between Nome and Kotzebue.
“It definitely throws people for a loop if they’ve never been up there,” Jordan stated. “The weather typically is not that nice, from Unalakleet to Kotzebue and back up to Nome.”
Last 12 months, groups arrived in Nome beneath stormy circumstances, with moist snow and robust winds. If the climate cooperates and visibility is sweet this 12 months, the Millers and others will likely be handled to a welcome sight as they method Nome for his or her lengthy stopover.
“As soon as you come up and over Cape Nome and you can see the lights of town, that’s a good feeling,” Jordan stated.
This 12 months’s race has a $200,000 purse to be distributed among the many prime groups. Last 12 months the winners took home $45,000, whereas the second-place group received $35,000 and the third-place group gained $25,000. This 12 months there may also be greater than $50,000 in contingency prizes.
The racers’ gas and oil are paid for of their $3,675 entry payment. But throughout coaching they have to cowl their very own prices.
“We try to offset that with sponsors, but it’s no joke for sure,” Morgan stated. He famous that he just lately paid $10 per gallon in Nikolai and that fuel was $15 per gallon in Puntilla. The Miller brothers additionally famous that transport and airfare has develop into very costly just lately.
“All the guys that are building their snowmachines at home in Nome and Kotzebue are definitely feeling that price increase in shipping parts and with the airlines,” Jordan stated.
Of the 50 snowmachiners within the competitors this 12 months, a few quarter are from rural Alaska and 18 are rookies, that means they’ve by no means completed an Iron Dog. The race additionally consists of an expedition —or leisure— class that can depart from Big Lake subsequent Wednesday. The organizers stated these snowmachiners ought to begin arriving in Nome on Sunday, Feb. 19.
In their last days of preparation, race organizers and volunteers are engaged on ensuring the path is ready. Green, for instance, was busy staking the path between Nome and Topkok. Volunteers had been marking different sections as properly.
“This race couldn’t happen without volunteers,” stated Iron Dog government director Mike Vasser.
The organizers and the racers alike expressed their gratitude for the communities alongside the path that additionally home and feed the rivals throughout stopovers.
“I know the race wouldn’t be possible without all these village volunteers donating their time,” Jarvis Miller stated. “It’s not one particular village—there’s a lot. If you’re at a checkpoint,Bi you get there and people open up their homes, there’s meals cooked, they treat you like family. It’s a cool experience to be a part of.”
The Expedition Class will begin on Big Lake on Feb. 15 at 11 a.m.
The Pro Class begins on Feb. 17 at 10 a.m., additionally on Big Lake.
