Dane Baker in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Anchorage, Ala. on March 1, 2025 The world’s most famous sled dog race is longer than ever this year thanks to a lack of snow. This year’s Iditarod race,

Thanks to a lack of snow, this year’s edition of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race needed a new route across the Alaska wilderness. The course change adds more than 100 mile.

When unseasonably warm temperatures left the Iditarod course unusable, organizers were forced to reconfigure a 1,128-mile course through the Alaskan wilderness. The result is a race like nothing before in the event’s 53-year history.

The Iditarod, now in its 53rd year, is the largest and most popular dog sled race in the world. "The Last Great Race on Earth" takes place in Alaska each March, as mushers and teams of 12-14 dogs race through the wilderness from Anchorage to Nome.

Downtown Anchorage, Alaska, was turned into a giant dog lot on Saturday as the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race held its 53rd annual ceremonial start in Alaska’s largest city.