Samantha LaLonde is one of two mushers from the Detroit area who are competing in the race. Her dad said she knows Dane Baker, a Royal Oak man who is also making his first appearance in the race. Baker planned to go to college after he graduated from Royal Oak High School in 2018, but instead took a job at a dog kennel in the Upper Peninsula.

The starting line of the Iditarod sled dog race is being moved from Anchorage to Fairbanks after it didn't snow for more than two weeks along the 20-mile stretch between the two cities.

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.