Willow-based Iditarod veterans comment on upcoming race at Iditarod Ceremonial Start

Low snowfall caused a number of changes with this year’s Iditarod. The Iditarod Trail Committee shortened the ceremonial start through Downtown Anchorage to under two miles and moved this year’s restart to Fairbanks.

Gabe Dunham and Matthew Failor, two Willow-based Iditarod Veterans, said the weather conditions changed how they prepared for this year’s Iditarod.

“Honestly, I’ve been not at home a lot,” Failor said, “We’ve been living out of the truck and trailer, taking the dogs, loading them up, and finding other areas to train.”

Dunham added good sledding trails were hard to find in Willow.

“We were on sleds, like, first in November and thinking, okay. Well, it’s just gonna be a low snow year, but this is great,” she said, “And then that rain hit us in Willow really hard, and it basically destroyed our trails.”

Dunham and Failor traveled to places with enough snow like Cantwell and Eureka regularly. All that work prepared them for the trails ahead.

“There’s gonna be a lot of snow, and I’m really excited about that,” Dunham said, “And I think my dogs are gonna be really excited too. And I don’t care how straight that river is, we’re gonna be on snow.”

You can follow their progress by tuning into KTNA’s Iditarod Report weekdays at 6 p.m.