article_snippet: Much of the start of This year's race is covered in barren gravel, forcing Iditarod organizers to move the start of the world's most famous sled dog race further north where there is snow and ice.
article_snippet: In this photo taken on Thursday, there are bare patches of grass and mud on sled dog trails in Anchorage, Alaska which is unsuitable for Iditarod .
article_snippet: The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race starts Saturday with a ceremonial run through Anchorage.
article_snippet: Dog Race's chief executive officer, Stan Hooley, called the conditionspretty miserable.'
article_snippet: Aliy Zirkle's team runs across Willow Lake during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Willow Lake, Alaska last year when the terrain was snowy enough . '
article_snippet: There are bare patches of grass and mud on sled dog trails in Anchorage, Alaska making it not ideal to hold the world famous dog sled race . '
article_snippet: Brent Sass of Eureka, Alaska, is running his third Iditarod, and is coming off a win in last month's 1,000-mile (1,600-kilometer)
article_snippet: Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race. '
article_snippet: Stan Hooley, the chief executive officer of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, is silhouetted as video of a musher wiping out in the 2014 race plays behind him during a meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, ahead of Dog Race .
article_snippet: Too warm: In this photo taken on  Wednesday, Stan Hooley, the chief executive officer of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, speaks  in Anchorage, Alaska, ahead of Dog Race .
highlights_snippet: Much of the start of the world's most famous sled dog, The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, is covered in barren gravel .
  