One Seward musher’s dreams of the Iditarod are over for this year. 26-year-old rookie Sarah Stokey withdrew her name due to lack of snow and abbreviated training season.
Stokey’s husband, Travis Beals, will compete as planned. Stokey has dreamed of the Iditarod since she was in grade school, but says the journey will need to wait another year.
Beals is one of six Kenai Peninsula mushers in the race. The others, all veterans, include: Kristy and Anna Berington of Kasilof, Paul Gebhardt of Kasilof, Monica Zappa of Kasilof, and Mitch Seavey of Seward.
The ceremonial start will be held Saturday in Anchorage, but gravelly roads have forced Monday’s official start over the Alaska Range to Fairbanks.
A stalled jet stream is moving warm Pacific air to Alaska and pushing cold Arctic air to the Midwest and East Coast.
