ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) 鈥 There will be a new burled arch over the finish line to welcome mushers in next year鈥檚 Iditarod, a race official said days after the current arch crumbled into a wood pile.
That arch, which has been used since the 2000 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, , likely from wood rot after being exposed to the salt water and cold air blowing off the Bering Strait into the western Alaska coastal community.
鈥淭he need for a new arch has been on our radar,鈥 race spokesperson Shannon Noonan said in an email to The Associated Press on Tuesday.
鈥淩ace Director Mark Nordman has been working with Nome Mayor John Handeland on the commission of the reconstruction of the new arch to ensure we have a new arch for Iditarod 2025,鈥 she said.
The arch wasn鈥檛 always over the finish line, which had an inauspicious beginning. According to the Iditarod website, legend has it someone sprinkled Kool-Aid crystals across the ice for a finish line for the very first race in 1973. A year later, two men each held a paper plate with the words 鈥淭he鈥 on one and 鈥淓nd鈥 on the other.
Musher Red 鈥淔ox鈥 Olson felt the finish line needed something more permanent and spent about 500 hours constructing the arch that weighed 5,000 pounds. It was in place for the 1975 race.
Olson鈥檚 original arch was damaged in 1999 when it was being moved off Front Street, where the finish line lies a half block from the sea, after the race.
A new arch was built in time for the 2000 race, but weather took its toll over the years on it, as well. It required major work in 2013.
Noonan said the replacement arch used the posts from the original 1975 sign to keep it aloft. It鈥檚 not know what the condition of the support posts were after the collapse, and social media photos show one on the ground and the other still standing.
Handeland gathered pieces of the sign to safekeeping and encouraged people to return any wood pieces they might have taken as souvenirs.
The city plans to hang the second arch below the original in the city鈥檚 recreation center. Meanwhile, a city post on social media says people are out scouting for the perfect tree to be the third burled arch.
The Iditarod, the world鈥檚 most famous sled dog race, begins with a the first Saturday in March. The official start is the following day just north in the community of Willow, and the winner of the 1,000-mile (1,609-kilometer) race reaches Nome about nine days later.
Musher Dallas Seavey won this year鈥檚 race, . The race was marked by the deaths of three dogs during the competition.
