Hello friends,
Things are amping up here at Iditarod Headquarters for another year of racing. The good news is that we have plenty of snow so the race should go on thru the
Northern Route as scheduled without having to make changes. There are 39 teams signed up this year with 12 female and 27 male mushers. 13 are rookie mushers (meaning that this is their first Iditarod) and 26 are veterans of the race. 7 teams are from different countries and it should come as no surprise that most teams are from Alaska. Click to see the musher profiles and get more info about them: 2026 Iditarod Mushers.
According to Rule #1, mushers must be 18 years of age as of the start of the race. Do you want to be an Iditarod racer? You can’t just sign up, first you need to qualify. You must have completed the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race OR have completed 2 other qualifying races for a total of 750 miles. AYOOOOOO! We love to race in the snow so no problem for my K9 friends.
In order to assure that all my friends are being well cared for, Rule #1 also states that, “All mushers who enter the 2026 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race must review and certify that their kennel (or the kennel their dogs are housed) meets the ITC Kennel Standards as set out by MUSH with PRIDE in their 2019 Kennel Inspection Document.” It’s super important to take care of the K9s, after all, this race is ALL ABOUT THE DOGS!!!
Tail Wags,
