The 2020 Iron Dog snowmachine race, billed as the world’s longest and toughest snowmachine race, hits the trails from Fairbanks to Nome to Big Lake on Sunday, February 16th with the start scheduled from the Pikes Waterfront Lodge in Fairbanks.
Twenty-two professional teams will leave Fairbanks beginning with the first team leaving the chute at 11:00 a.m. and teams leaving on four-minute intervals. Racers must complete layovers in Galena and Kotzebue before the run to the halfway point in Nome. The Halfway ceremony will be Wednesday, February 19th in Nome. Teams resume racing with the finish planned for Saturday, February 22nd on Big Lake in front of SouthPort Marina.
The entry list for the pro class includes only one racer listed with a Kenai Peninsula hometown. Rookie Travis Temple of Soldotna will race under bib #19.
The 2020 Iron Dog events include the induction of the 2020 Hall of Fame class on Saturday, February 15th as part of the Pre-Race Banquet & Pro Racer Draw at the Westmark Fairbanks Hotel & Conference Center from 6-9 p.m.
Kasilof’s Dusty Van Meter will be inducted into the Iron Dog Hall of Fame Class of 2020 on Saturday, joining Soldotna’s Scott Davis ( inducted in 2017). Van Meter owns Iron Dog championships from 2000, 2002, 2004, 2012 and 2013 in his 20-year racing career. Van Meter’s last Iron Dog was in 2017.
Photo provided from irondog.org
