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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 鈥渢o ensure the safety of the dogs, mushers and public,鈥� 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鈥檚 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鈥檚 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鈥檚 side and volunteers in Alaska.

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

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

鈥淏ecause the Quest is so integral to the Yukon鈥圱erritory itself, we鈥檝e involved 11 communities 鈥� 11 patrols from the territory and one from Atlin, B.C. That鈥檚 up significantly from previous years.

鈥淟ast year, we had four communities supporting. It鈥檚 not about clearing the trail for us. It鈥檚 about a training activity. ... It鈥檚 a win-win situation.鈥�

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.

鈥淭he Canadian Rangers play an integral role in making sure the trail is safe for all participants,鈥� said Natalie Haltrich, Yukon鈥檚 executive director for the historic mushing race.

鈥淭hey volunteer hundreds of hours of their time each year, and it doesn鈥檛 go unnoticed.鈥�