WILLOW, Alaska (AP) – Eighty-five mushers set off Sunday to conquer the toughest terrain this nation has to offer, vying to become the first to reach Alaska’s western coast with their dog teams.
Scott Janssen, an undertaker from Anchorage who is known as the Mushing Mortician, was the first to leave across Willow Lake in the staggered started.
Dallas Seavey was only wearing a long-sleeved shirt as he packed his sled under blue skies and warm temperatures. He said it felt just like another day for him and his dogs, doing their thing.
That could be bad news for the field as Seavey has won three out of the last four races.
“If we have a good race, we should have a good finish. If we can maximize this team, we’ll get their fast,” he said of the dash for the finish line under the burled arch in Nome. The winner is expected in about nine days after traveling over two mountain ranges, the Yukon River and battling the fierce winds along the Bering Sea coast.