2005 Iditarod - March 6: Restart in Willow

March 6: Restart in Willow

Restart at Willow: From the Airstrip the teams were shipped by truck across the Knik River to the restart point, which is normally at the Iditarod Headquarters in Wasilla. Due to clement weather the restart was moved 30 miles (48 km) north to Willow, and the checkpoint at Knik was skipped.

The time to Nome is calculated from Sunday, March 6, at 2 pm when the first team departed from Willow Lake, behind the community center. The remaining teams left, staggered by two-minute intervals, until the last departed at 4:36 pm. Each departing team had 16 dogs, and no more can be added during the race.

In 2004, the starting time of the race was pushed back from 10 am. Sled dogs perform better in temperatures close to 0 °F (−20 °C), and this allows mushers to run their teams through the cold of the night until they cross the Alaska Range into the Interior. Among the last three to leave were previous Iditarod winners Martin Buser and Jeff King, who entered the race at the last minute to secure a late starting position.

An estimated 12,000 to 15,000 fans watched the restart, and the area was thronged by snowmobiles (snowmachines, in Alaska), bonfire parties, and between 4,000 and 5,000 cars. The chaos is hard on the dogs, who are accustomed to the wilderness; Kelly Griffin's team ran into the crowd before steering back on course.

Yentna: Jessie Royer was the first to arrive at Yetna Station on March 6 at 5:37 pm, and Rachael Scdoris was the last at 9:34 pm. The top 10 mushers departed within an hour of each other, and the top 30 within two hours.

Skwentna: An early lead pack developed as Jessica Henricks, the 2003 Rookie of the Year, became the first to arrive at Skwentna on March 6 at 8:59 pm, followed by DeeDee Jonrowe almost 30 minutes later, and then Phil Morgan, Rick Swenson, and Mike Williams. Scdoris was the last to arrive at 7:31 am the next day. Hans Gatt departed first, at 10:28 pm. The top 10 departed within 2 hours of each other, and the top 30 within 6 hours.

G. B. Jones became the first musher to scratch from the race, on March 7 in Skwentna. The Iditarod veteran indicated he had problems with sled quality, his lead dogs, and personal health ever since the restart in Willow.(pdf)