A warm, relatively snow-free winter has caused numerous issues in the mushing community. Most notably, the Iditarod restart was moved from Willow to Fairbanks. Multiple shorter races were delayed, altered, or canceled outright. On Tuesday evening, the Junior Iditarod announced that it will be moving to the Denali Highway. Normally, the race begins at Knik Lake. Earlier this month, conditions on Knik Lake forced a move to Willow. According to the Junior Iditarod Facebook page, conditions in Willow are too icy for the race, which starts this weekend.
The new course will run from the Denali Highway in Cantwell to the Alpine Creek Lodge and back. The race will start on Sunday, March 1st, at noon. In a later post, the Junior Iditarod thanked the Knik and Willow communities, as well as the usual race checkpoints. Organizers say they hope to return to the usual route next year.
As of Wednesday afternoon, eleven young mushers were signed up for the race.
