WATCH LIVE: 2024 Iron Dog teams hit the trail for 40th running

BIG LAKE, Alaska (KTUU) - Billed as the “World’s Longest, Toughest Snowmobile Race,” the Iron Dog challenges snowmachine racers each year with some of the most brutal terrain and conditions seen around the country.

This year will be the 40th running of the Alaskan event, which starts Saturday in Big Lake and runs 2,500 miles across Alaskan terrain for eight days.

The race was created and first run in 1984, following the northern route of the historic Iditarod trail.

The trail has seen multiple iterations over the years, but recent runnings have featured a route that starts in Big Lake and runs north, through the Alaska Range, up to Alaska’s Northwest coast. It takes a halfway break in Nome, then returns south for the finish back in Big Lake.

Last year’s race saw Team 7′s Tyler Aklestad and Nick Olstad repeat as champions, coming across the finish line to wrap up a race that took them nearly 53 on-trail hours to complete.

It was the third time in four years the duo had emerged as Iron Dog champions, and it was Olstad’s sixth career win in the Iron Dog and Aklestad’s fourth career win.

Saturday’s start will be livestreamed by Alaska’s News Source starting at 9:30 a.m., with the official race start at 10 a.m. with the Pro Class start and 11:30 a.m.

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