The event began in 1984 as a race in Alaska from Big Lake near
Wasilla to
Nome. It was approximately doubled to at the 10th annual race in 1994. It starts at Big Lake and follows the main trail and its connecting trails until it hits to the
Yukon River at
Ruby. It follows the river to
Kaltag before it heads to the
Norton Sound on the
Bering Sea at
Unalakleet and it follows the coast to Nome. Then it returns along the same path in the reverse order to Ruby, where it diverges off its original path by following the Yukon River and its tributary the
Tanana River until the competitors finish in
Fairbanks. The route changes from time to time; total length has been 1,971 to 2,031 miles since 1993, extended to 2,031 miles in 2011. the fastest time since 1994 was 35 hours 39 minutes 56 seconds by Marc McKenna & Dusty VanMeter on a Ski-Doo in 2012, although this figure is dependent upon route length and conditions rather than being a straightforward record; fastest times have exceeded 71 hours. The most current record time was set in 2016 by Tyler Aklestad and Tyson Johnson on
Ski-Doo snowmobiles with a time of 17 hours 32 minutes and 44 seconds. ==Safety==