Thanks to a lack of snow, this year’s edition of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race needed a new route across the Alaska wilderness. The course change adds more than 100 mile.

The race is meant to commemorate and celebrate the history of Alaska and the critical part that sled dogs have played in the settlement of the state.

Hello from Alaska, and thanks for supporting us, everybody from northern Minnesota and Wisconsin, and we’re carrying you all with us on this adventure this year,” Iditarod Musher Emily Ford said. Duluth’s own Emily Ford is set to embark on her rookie run of the longest sled dog race in the world.

Downtown Anchorage, Alaska, was turned into a giant dog lot on Saturday as the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race held its 53rd annual ceremonial start in Alaska’s largest city.

The world’s most famous sled dog race is longer this year than ever before.Thanks to a lack of snow, this year's edition of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race nee