FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) - Iditarod finishers voted Huslia the best checkpoint this year, earning the first-time rest stop the race’s Golden Clipboard award.
Huslia, located on the north bank of the Koyukuk River and 290 miles west of Fairbanks, was the halfway point and the northernmost point of this year’s race, which held its official restart in Fairbanks for only the second time due to a lack of snow on parts of the trail in Southcentral Alaska.
The village of 338 people had about 30 days to prepare for the arrival of 78 mushers along with crowds of volunteers and reporters, village Second Chief Joss Olin said.
“We had a big community meeting,” he said. “We really didn’t know what to expect.”
To prepare, residents set up tables in the community hall to serve moose, fish sandwiches and coffee. One week before the race, snowmachiners broke through 2 feet of fresh snow through one of the most remote parts of the course, 80 miles in each direction, to Koyukuk and Galena, Olin said.
During the race, Iditarod mushers routinely said they felt especially welcome when they reached Huslia, race spokeswoman Julie Busch said.
“Everybody was coming in and talking about it, how special of an experience that was and how welcoming the community was,” she said.
Huslia had no prior experience as an Iditarod checkpoint. The trail didn’t go through the community in 2003, the only previous time the Iditarod has started in Fairbanks. But the village is used to entertaining guests - every three years it hosts the Koyukuk River Championship, a spring carnival jointly celebrated with the villages of Hughes and Allakaket.
Huslia also has a rich mushing history. It’s the home of statewide champion sprint musher George Attla, who died in February. Today the town has three dog lots, unusual among Interior villages, where snowmachines have largely replaced sled dogs. The town is also known for its youth mushing program, The Frank Attla Youth and Sled Dog Care-Mushing Program, which is named after George Attla’s son.
It’s far too soon to know if future Iditarods might include Huslia and other towns between Fairbanks and Nome. Busch said she’s heard a lot of people outside the Iditarod Trail Committee this year suggest re-starting the race in Fairbanks every third year. It’s not an issue the committee has taken up.
“We have not had that discussion whatsoever,” she said. “We’re just getting done with 2015.”
The Iditarod Trail Committee will begin organizing the 2016 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog race some time this summer, she said.
___
Information from: Fairbanks (Alaska) Daily News-Miner, https://www.newsminer.com
Please read our comment policy before commenting.