As race day nears, the Yukon Quest has announced two changes to its 1,600-kilometre trail.

The 33rd annual international sled dog race will begin in Fairbanks Saturday morning, albeit in a different location than usual.

Due to jumble ice on the Chena River, the start line will shift slightly upriver “to ensure the safety of the dogs, mushers and public,” according to a press release issued yesterday by the race office.

Teams will now head onto the river at the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitor Center in Fairbanks.

Yesterday’s report comes on the heels of a trail report on Friday that the historic mushing trail will incur a re-route between the checkpoints of Eagle and Dawson City.

There, impassable ice jams between the mouth of the Fortymile River and Dawson City necessitated a re-route to the Top of the World-Taylor Highway.

The result is an additional 762-metre climb over 32 kms from the Fortymile River to the highway, plus an additional 48 kms into Dawson.

The race’s distance, however, will remain the same.

Besides this major change, the only other concern is a general lack of snow.

The trail continues to be broken by Canadian Rangers on Yukon’s side and volunteers in Alaska.

Last Thursday, Major Craig Volstad of Yellowknife was in Whitehorse to meet members of the media.

This year’s effort by the Canadian Rangers is the largest to date, including members of 11 Yukon communities, Volstad said.

“Because the Quest is so integral to the Yukon Territory itself, we’ve involved 11 communities – 11 patrols from the territory and one from Atlin, B.C. That’s up significantly from previous years.

“Last year, we had four communities supporting. It’s not about clearing the trail for us. It’s about a training activity. ... It’s a win-win situation.”

The job doubles as a training exercise for the Canadian Rangers along 800 kilometres of wilderness from Whitehorse to Dawson City.

As part of exercise Tay Naydan, 120 Canadian Rangers worked along the trail last month during three different phases.

The first phase includes initial trail breaking, clearing brush and packing snow down with snowmobiles.

Phase two re-establishes the trail, removing any additional debris, while the final phase consists of a final once-over just ahead of the competing sled dog teams.

“The Canadian Rangers play an integral role in making sure the trail is safe for all participants,” said Natalie Haltrich, Yukon’s executive director for the historic mushing race.

“They volunteer hundreds of hours of their time each year, and it doesn’t go unnoticed.”