George, the chief operations officer of the Iditarod Trail Committee, the nonprofit that organizes what some call “The Last Great Race.” St. “Our ecosystem is under fire right now within the state of Alaska,” said Chas St. There are many reasons why, but climate change isn’t helping. In the past, there were sometimes as many as 85 teams, but now there are only 33 - the lowest participation in the race’s history. The 51st annual running of the Iditarod starts on March 4, but this year, there are fewer teams than usual. But the trail has become trickier in the last two decades as the region has warmed, making trail conditions less reliable. The route is only passable in winter, when the rivers and lakes have frozen over. Sled dogs and their mushers travel the roughly thousand-mile trail from Anchorage to Nome each year in March to commemorate the 1925 serum run, when a relay of 20 dog sled teams delivered life-saving medication to Nome to halt a diphtheria outbreak. The Iditarod is Alaska’s best-known sporting event. He ran the Iditarod for the first time in 2010 and has competed seven times since. At first, he mushed after school, taking his father’s dogs on three- and four-mile trails near his home in Akiak. doesn’t remember when he started mushing, but once he was strong enough to handle the sled dogs, it became his passion.
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