Unlike most sporting events in the U.S that have been canceled or postponed due to the coronavirus, the Iditarod dogsled race that began Sunday is mushing on with many racers having reached the halfway point Thursday.
But that doesn’t mean the worldwide pandemic hasn’t impacted the famous Alaskan race from Anchorage to Nome or that officials aren’t monitoring the situation closely, especially since the state’s first confirmed case of coronavirus was discovered Thursday.
Taking precautionary measures, race officials postponed the Meet the Mushers event on March 21 and its Awards Banquet on March 22 in Nome, and urged fans not to show up at the finish line.
“Pretty much we’re telling everybody not to go to Nome unless they are essential race personnel,” race marshal Mark Nordman told the Anchorage Daily News on Friday.
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In another action announced Friday, the official checkpoint in Shaktoolik, the 19th along the northern route, has been moved to outside the community “in the continued interest of public health.” Mushers will still be provided with their food drop bags, straw for bedding and HEET, which allows a team to be fed a hot meal. A similar move was made with the Nulato checkpoint.
But all other elements of the race are continuing as planned.
Sign at the Galena checkpoint advising mushers that the Nulato checkpoint down river is shut down, set up is just tents down on the river. No town access for Iditarod stuff. pic.twitter.com/Y0qRBtlcIl
— Zachariah Hughes (@ZachHughesAK) March 14, 2020
“We have been taking the normal precautions that everyone should be taking,” Nordman told ADN.
In Unalakleet, the checkpoint will be limited to mushers, race officials and media.
“I know the city is putting up barricades along the slough to keep the public away from mushers coming through and away from that checkpoint so mushers can do what they need to do and get back out,” Bobby Bolen, superintendent of the Bering Strait School District told ADN.
Nordman told ADN that the villages along the route are concerned but support the race, as officials continue to be in communication with Dr. Anne Zink, Alaska’s chief medical officer.
“If the state of Alaska said the race must stop, we’d stop,” Nordman told ADN. “We have not heard that…
“[Actually, the mushers are] in the safest place you could be.”
Nordman also said that health notices are posted at the checkpoints but mushers aren’t being directly advised on the virus, and many were unaware of the past week’s developments on the coronavirus outbreak.
At least one musher felt it necessary to abandon the race. Veteran Iditarod musher Jeremy Keller of Knit, Alaska, scratched Thursday, saying he wanted to be home with friends and family during this stressful time, race officials announced.
As for the race, three of the top 10 leading mushers are women, including Jessie Royer, the current leader as of Saturday morning. A female hasn’t won the Iditarod in 30 years.
Photos of previous Iditarod races by Ezra O. Shaw/Allsport/Getty Images.