Farewell Burn, Along With No Snow In Anchorage, Sends Iditarod Race Restart North

Fairbanks Will Host Restart Of Iditarod 

After the typical ceremonial hoopla at the start of the Iditarod this March in Anchorage, the 2025 Iditarod's mushers, dogs and handlers will pack it all up and drive 358 miles north for the restart in Fairbanks. 

There's not enough snow in Anchorage for the race this year. There isn't enough snow in Willow, either – which is where the race is sometimes restarted in low-snow years.

Seeing the Iditarod in Downtown Anchorage (Photo, Journal Archive) 

The race events in Anchorage will be on Saturday, March 1st. It'll restart two days later, on March 3rd.

The Farewell Burn, near Nikoli, is cited as another main reason for the shift to Fairbanks. The Farewell Burn is a killer spot. Photographers frequently post themselves near the more dangerous hills to show mushers wiping out, one after the other. 

Searching "Farewell Burn" On Google Images 

On its way to Nome, the race will pass through Nenana. 

In a very real sense, that means that the Iditarod will be "going home." The original Iditarod serum run the race is based upon started in the town of Nenana when mail-runners on dog teams took the medicine to the western coast to save children's lives from diptheria.

The serum run did not start in Anchorage. Nenana was a major town by 1925 when the serum run occurred, strategically located at a railroad, Iditarod Trail and river hub south of Fairbanks.