Iditarod board moves race restart from Willow to Fairbanks
"The decision to reroute the trail comes after mounting pressure from mushers who said the snowless, rocky and rough Dalzell Gorge trail in 2014 was among the most dangerous they had ever experienced."
For only the second time in its 43-year history, the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is headed to Fairbanks, Alaska Dispatch News reports.
A unanimous decision to move the race start from Willow to Fairbanks was announced Tuesday night during a special meeting of the Iditarod board of directors and only hours after members returned from a flight to view potentially problematic sections of the traditional race trail.
The 1,000-mile sled dog race has been moved north only once before, in 2003, when poor snow coverage in Southcentral Alaska also forced organizers to move the restart to Fairbanks.