This March 13, 2020, photo, provided by Dr. Jodie Guest, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Emory University in Atlanta, shows Guest as an Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race volunteer at a checkpoint in Unalakleet, Alaska. Guest will help advise the Iditarod as it plans to run the 2021 race amid the coronavirus pandemic. (Courtesy Photo / Dr. Jodie Guest)

This March 13, 2020, photo, provided by Dr. Jodie Guest, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Emory University in Atlanta, shows Guest as an Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race volunteer at a checkpoint in Unalakleet, Alaska. Guest will help advise the Iditarod as it plans to run the 2021 race amid the coronavirus pandemic. (Courtesy Photo / Dr. Jodie Guest)

Iditarod preps for any scenario as 2021 race plans proceed

The world’s most famous sled dog race will go forward in 2021.

By MARK THIESSEN

Associated Press

ANCHORAGE — The world’s most famous sled dog race will go forward in 2021, and amid the ongoing pandemic, officials now are preparing for every possible contingency for what the race and the world might look like in March when the Iditarod starts.

It’s not the mushers who worry Iditarod CEO Rob Urbach; they’re used to social distancing along the 1,000-mile trail.

The headaches start with what to do with the 1,800 volunteers and staff needed to stage the race, some scattered in 21 villages that serve as checkpoints along the trail between Anchorage and Nome, and how to protect them and the village residents from the coronavirus. The goal is zero community transmission.

“We’re really trying to plan for the worst and hope for the best,” Urbach said. “The mushers getting from checkpoint to checkpoint is the easiest piece.”

The Iditarod got some on-the-fly training last March. When the race started March 8, people were still shaking hands and not wearing masks. By the time the race ended in mid-March, some villages asked that mushers bypass their communities. Most public buildings in Nome, where the race ends, were closed.

The Iditarod was the only major sports event not to cancel last spring. Officials plan to combine what they learned with best practices from other professional leagues, like the NFL, to incorporate into a plan for the 2021 race. They also expect on-the-ground help from an epidemiologist.

Urbach said they are developing criteria for testing protocols and will adhere to whatever standard is determined by Alaska state health officials at the time of the race. That could include wearing masks or requiring volunteers and mushers to be vaccinated if there is a vaccine by then and it’s recommended. The Iditarod is also investigating getting its own rapid test lab that can travel on the trail.

Other changes may include support staff being reduced to the bare minimum and traveling pods of four to maintain a bubble. It may mean volunteers sleeping outside in warmed tents instead of stacking 12 people cheek-to-jowl in a small cabin in a village checkpoint.

The look of the ceremonial start in downtown Anchorage, which normally attracts thousands of fans, might be smaller as people may have to social distance. It may mean few or no spectators at the Nome finish.

It also might mean bypassing villages altogether.

“Our course may be adapted to navigate around any civilization, and that will be a heck of a race,” Urbach said.

Besides being in contact with public health officials in Alaska, the Iditarod also is leaning on Dr. Jodie Guest to help its formulate its plan. She is an infectious disease epidemiologist at Emory University in Atlanta and has been an Iditarod race volunteer for years, often spending time in small villages.

Guest has been working on how to craft the best prevention messages based on culturally competent messaging and how to get testing into communities that have a distrust of the medical system.

“I’ve really tried to do with my team is have us be a group that is that both nimble and can do testing pretty efficiently and quickly, no matter where you put us, but also a group that really can talk to and listen to communities that are not getting a lot of attention,” Guest said.

“So that does translate very well to potential risk for villages and concerns the villages might have, and so I’m very hopeful that the work I’ve been doing will translate well for us in Alaska,” she said.

The worst-case scenario is that there is no Iditarod in 2021. “That’s what we hope won’t happen, but it needs to be something we consider for the safety of everyone,” Guest said.

But the race also has components that are “perhaps safer than a lot of other things for COVID-19. And that’s what we’re going to try to do, is figure out how to take all the parts of the Iditarod that are super safe by comparison and change all the parts that aren’t to make them so that they are,” Guest said.

Urbach is confident there will be a race. “If the Iditarod doesn’t run, the world’s got a bigger problem,” he said.

There are 12 international mushers in the field of 62 teams that will start the race north of Anchorage on March 7, including defending champion Thomas Waerner of Norway.

Race officials are investigating travel waivers and other means, such as hiring a cargo plane, to get international mushers and their teams of 16 dogs each to Alaska if travel restrictions or quarantines are in place, Urbach said.

Waerner was stuck in Alaska for months after winning in March until he could get a flight home. Despite that, he says he is trying to find his own travel back to Alaska.

“I am working to find a way to go,” he said in an email to The Associated Press. “Right now it is not possible,” but he says there is a long time before he wants to arrive by mid-February.

Urbach said race officials continue to anticipate what the race could look like six months from now.

“The worst case is, we put a lot of time, work and effort and we have too much sanitation supplies and disinfectant, then so be it,” Urbach said. “We want to be overly prepared.”

More in News

(Juneau Empire file photo)
Aurora forecast through the week of Nov. 17

These forecasts are courtesy of the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Geophysical Institute… Continue reading

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire file photo)
Police calls for Monday, Nov. 18, 2024

This report contains public information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

The Douglas Island Breeze In on Wednesday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
New owner seeks to transfer Douglas Island Breeze In’s retail alcohol license to Foodland IGA

Transfer would allow company to take over space next to supermarket occupied by Kenny’s Liquor Market.

A butter clam. Butter clams are found from the Aleutian Islands to the California coast. They are known to retain algal toxins longer than other species of shellfish. (Photo provided by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife)
Among butter clams, which pose toxin dangers to Alaska harvesters, size matters, study indicates

Higher concentrations found in bigger specimens, UAS researchers find of clams on beaches near Juneau.

An aerial view of people standing near destroyed and damaged buildings in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene flooding on Oct. 8, 2024 in Bat Cave, North Carolina. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Members of U.S. Senate back disaster aid request amid increasing storm severity

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration’s request for nearly $100 billion in natural… Continue reading

Media members and other observers gather at the Alaska Division of Elections office on Wednesday evening as the results of all ballots, including ranked choice tabulations, were announced. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Ranked choice voting repeal fails by 0.2%, Begich defeats Peltola 51.3%-48.7% on final day of counting

Tally released Wednesday night remains unofficial until Nov. 30 certification.

Looking through the dining room and reception area to the front door. The table will be covered with holiday treats during the afternoon open house. The Stickley slide table, when several extensions are added, provides comfortable seating for 22 dinner guests. (Laurie Craig / Juneau Empire)
The Governor’s House: Welcoming Alaskans for more than 100 years

Mansion has seen many updates to please occupants, but piano bought with first funds still playable.

The language of Ballot Measure 2 appears on Alaska’s 2024 absentee ballots. The measure would repeal the states open primary and ranked choice voting system. (Andrew Kitchenman/Alaska Beacon)
Count tightens to 45-vote margin for repealing Alaska’s ranked choice system going into final day

State Division of Elections scheduled to conduct final tally at 5 p.m. Wednesday.

The drive-through of the Mendenhall Valley branch of True North Federal Credit Union, seen on June 13, is where a man was laying down when he was fatally struck by a truck during the early morning hours of June 1. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)
Police: Driver of CBJ truck not at fault in death of man struck in drive-through lane of bank

Victim laying on pavement during early-morning incident in June couldn’t be seen in time, JPD chief says.

Most Read