With the clock ticking before the start of the 2023 running of the World’s Longest, Toughest Snowmobile Race on Friday, the sky turned gray, and the snow started to fall in earnest. That has been the refrain of the 2023 season – snow, snow, and more snow. But it’s nothing these racers haven’t seen before.

When the flag was dropped and the first team took off (Team 49’s Todd Palin and Klinton VanWingerden drew the No. 1 start position), the race was officially on. From relatively suburban Big Lake, these 25 teams are now on their way into the wilds of Alaska – and through some of the most enthusiastic and supportive snowmachining communities in the state.

For some Iron Doggers, they will be racing toward home. The Iron Dog racecourse travels through 23 communities in rural Alaska, and the fans, followers and volunteers along the way have been preparing for their arrival for months. Over the years, those same fans have caught the Iron Dog bug themselves, and now are showing up as competitors.   

“We always grew up riding; my dad did this race, and I’ve been racing all my life,” said Team 33’s George “Radar” Lambert, who is racing with Michael Hensley. They were one of three teams from Kotzebue entered in this year’s race, and the part Lambert was looking forward to most was arriving into Kotzebue.

“Everyone loves to watch the race there,” he said as he worked on last-minute packing before the start. “Today, our goal is to just have a good, clean run. We just have to have a good first day, because there’s a lot of racing in front of us. A lot can happen.”

Unfortunately, a lot did happen for Team 33, when not long into the race, Hensley took a spill and injured his back. As of about 6:30 p.m. they were making their way back to the start, after scratching in Skwentna.

“It just sounds like Michael’s back is pretty messed up and he’s having a hard time sitting,” said Paulette Schuerch, Radar’s mother. “We’re still waiting to hear more.”

The addition of the Red Dog Loop to the Iron Dog race has elevated the enthusiasm in this far-north community, and while heartbreaking to see one of their own out so soon, the community of Kotzebue still has two more teams to cheer on.  

Kotzebue Team 12, Chris Collins and Doug Wicken are back again this year after finishing 10th place in 2022 and spreading a message of “Never Alone,” for those struggling with thoughts of suicide. This year, Collins and Wicken are eyeing a podium.

“Today we just want to gauge where we are with the rest of the field,” said Chris Collins. “Then see how it goes from there. The first day is always about having a clean run.”

Wicken, who graduated from rookie to veteran after completing the 2022 race, said he feels a bit more confident than he did last year, when he experienced the trail for the first time.

“I know what to look for and what to expect,” he said. “It definitely takes some of the pressure off.”

As of 7 p.m. Friday, Team 12 was zeroing in on the Nikolai airport on their way to McGrath.

Frank and Malaki Ferreira, Team 44, are also from Kotzebue and were trailing behind, appearing to be holed up at Puntilla Lake. Frank Ferreira, an Iron Dog veteran, finished the race in 2012, but his 18-year-old son Malaki is a rookie.

“We want to have a clean run, try not to get stuck,” Frank said, while stretching a bungee net over his gear before the race start. With so much new snow this year, there will likely be plenty of places to bog down.    

Malaki, the spitting image of his father, is one of three under-20 racers in this year’s Iron Dog race, and one of two racing with his father (the youngest, 17-year-old Haaken Wold of Wasilla, is also racing with his father, Wayne). Malaki said he knows he’s inexperienced at the race itself, but being on a snowmachine comes second nature to him. 

“I’m used to this,” he said. “It’s just kind of how I grew up.”

Malaki, who graduated last year, said, “It will be nice to get to Kotzebue. It’s like going home.” As of 7 p.m., he and his father were taking a 6-hour layover at Puntilla Lake.

Other racers from Alaska’s remote communities include Team 4, Jim Baldwin and Steven Williamson from Noorvik, who scratched in 2022; and Team 23, brothers Jarvis and Jordan Miller of Nome.

“I’m getting a little nervous just here and waiting but after we start going, the nerves will go away,” Williamson said just 15 minutes before the race started. “We did everything we needed to do to be ready, so now we just race.”

Team 31 racer Kelly Sommer is from Nulato and working in Fairbanks. He is racing with 18-year-old Evan Barber this year. Evan became an Iron Dog veteran at age 16.

“He beats me all the time,” joked Sommer who has completed three Iron Dogs. “Even in his first race (in 2021), he beat me.”

Racers still have much of Alaska to cover and 15 more communities to pass through. The local support they experience when driving into the villages buoys their fortitude and helps them through the exhausting days ahead.

“The support for this race is so good,” said Harold Lambert of Kotzebue, Radar’s father and a four-time Iron Dog veteran himself. “It’s evolved over the years and the addition of the Red Dog Loop is bringing more riders out. We have 14 Iron Dog racers from our region, and that is a good thing.”

As of 8 p.m., the leaders were in McGrath; only 20 minutes separated the top four teams. After adjustments for their start times, the current leaders are:

1.     Last year’s winners, Team 7, Tyler Aklestad and Nick Olstad;

2.     Team 14, Casey Boylan and Bryan Leslie;

3.     Team 10, Mike Morgan and Chris Olds;

4.     Team 39, Cody Barber and Brett Lapham; and

5.     *Team 9, Shane Barber and Troy Conlon (*Team 2, Bradley Kishbaugh and Ryan Sottosanti, bumped into the No. 5 position upon their late-night arrival into McGrath).

Teams will be released after their 14-hour layover in McGrath beginning at approximately 8:20 a.m. Saturday.