The 49th running of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race hits the trail on Sunday, March 7th from Deshka Landing, Alaska. Deshka Landing will serve as the start and finish for the 2021 Iditarod with the first team scheduled to leave at 1:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon.
Among the many covid mitigation measures and protocols, the ceremonial start in downtown Anchorage, the restart in Willow and the traditional finish under the burled-arch in Nome have been replaced in 2021 with a round-trip course beginning and ending at Deshka Landing.
The 2021 race route, Gold Trail Loop, covers about 860 miles and follows a portion of the traditional race route with teams twice traveling through the Alaska Range, the Happy River Steps and the notorious Dalzell Gorge.
Map and Race Route: Click Here!
Currently 47 mushers and teams are scheduled to compete in the 2021 Iditarod.
2021 Musher Profiles: Available Here!
Past Champions Entered In 2021
Dallas Seavey, a four-time champion, returns in 2021. Seavey, 34, won four races in six-year span from 2012-2017.
Dallas Seavey is one of four former champions entered in 2021, along with four-time winner Martin Buser, 2018 winner Joar Leifseth Ulsom and 2019 winner Pete Kaiser.
2020 Champion Summary...from iditarod.com press-media
Thomas Waerner of Norway won the 2020 Iditarod Sled Dog Race with a time of 9 days, 10 hours, 37 min, and 47 seconds. Waerner also received several Iditarod awards in 2020 including the Northrim Bank Achieve More Award, Ryan Air Gold Coast Award and the Lolly Medley Memorial Golden Harness Award. Due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, Thomas Waerner will be unable to participate in the 2021 Iditarod, but looks forward to coming back in 2022 for our 50th anniversary race.
Hal Hanson, 42, was born and raised in Stillwater, Oklahoma and grew up on a ranch taking care of livestock. Having always been intrigued by the immense challenge of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race he found himself in Alaska. He spent his first three years in Alaska training sprint dogs on the Yukon River learning from the locals. In 2017 he moved to the Kenai peninsula to learn long-distance mushing and found himself working for Mitch Seavey as a trainer.
Musher Profile: Travis Beals, Seward
Travis, age 27, has raced in six Iditarod races beginning in 2013 with a fifth-place finish in 2019.
Musher Profile: Kristy & Anna Berington, Knik (formerly based in Kasilof)
Kristy Berington, 36, operates Seeing Double Sled Dog Racing with her twin sister Anna and her husband, Andy Pohl, in Knik, Alaska. Mushing dogs has become part of family life. This is Kristy’s 11th running of the Iditarod. She moved to Alaska 13 years ago to learn more about mushing from 1984 Iditarod Champion Dean Osmar in Kasilof.
Anna Berington, 36, has been loving life in Alaska since 2007 racing sled dogs, commercial fishing, building and constructing homes, landscaping and competing in running races. Anna started mushing when she was only nine years old. The twins have come a long way from mushing their pet dog in Wisconsin to giving tourists rides in the Sierra Nevada’s, to training with former champion Dean Osmar, and many mushing friends like Scott Janssen here in Alaska.
