Enduring their warmest winter on record, Alaska and its dry conditions nearly put an end to the legendary Iditarod dog sled race.

“There was just no snow,” Musher Marie Helwig told the Guardian. “We were running on ice and dirt. You can’t really control a sled when there is no snow.”

Warm temperatures sparked conversation between contestants, suggesting to move the race back into a month with a higher chance of seeing snow, like January or February, rather than keeping its normal start on the first Saturday of March.

"This past winter has been among the warmest on record across Alaska," said weather.com meteorologist Quincy Vagell. "A northward bulge in the jet stream is part of the cause, as cold air was largely displaced toward the North Pole."

Mats Pettersson, of Sweden, mushes along the frozen Bering Sea coast outside Nome, Alaska.

(Mark Thiessen/AP)

The warm temperatures made for a blistering track, causing dogs to slip across icy paths at blazing speeds. Eight racers finished in a matter of eight days, faster than any of the winners from years prior. Even Helwig, who was the last of the 71 participants, recorded a time of 13 days, which would’ve been good enough to crack the top 10 in the 1980s and 1990s.

“If you can imagine being pulled by 16 huskies all wanting to run and you are doing it on dirt and snow and ice – you are lucky you don’t bounce off trees,” said Linwood Fiedler. “It was a hard, fast trail. It was hard to go slow.”

The lack of snow forced race organizers to import more than 7,000 gallons of snow delivered from a Fairbanks rail yard near 365 miles away by Alaska Railroad.

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“It’s a rare occasion that there isn’t enough snow in Anchorage,” Tim Sullivan, a spokesman for Alaska Railroad, told the Washington Post. “The Iditarod’s an icon here — it’s the state sport — and really important to us here at the Railroad that it’s able to go off without a hitch.”

Conditions experienced during the 1,000-mile race are typically near a bone-chilling -20 degrees Fahrenheit, but those temperatures didn’t quite pan out this year.

“I don’t think it ever got colder than five below,” said Trent Herbst, an eight-time contestant. "It was super comfortable for us.”

Some stretches of the trails featured no snow or ice at all, giving way to spans of more than 20 miles of strictly gravel and tree stumps.

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Many of the racers had to change their strategy for the race, running their dogs through the night when temperatures were lowest and resting them during the heat of the days.

“For me, the race was tough from the beginning because it was so warm and I have some really big dogs that are furry. They were not handling it so well. It was too hot for them,” Helwig mentioned. “They were sluggish. A few of them threw up because they were dipping for snow so much — they ingested so much air and water.”

However, racers say the thought of scrapping the Last Great Race never crossed their minds despite the mild conditions.

“For me Alaska, really is the last frontier. It’s about people being resilient,” said Herbst. “If you are Alaskan, you are used to change — and yeah, even climate change. People will change with it.”

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Willow, Alaska

Dogs on the team of musher Scott Janssen howl before the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Saturday, March 2, 2013, in Anchorage, Alaska. The competitive portion of the 1,000-mile race is scheduled to begin on Sunday in Willow, 50 miles to the north. (AP Photo/Rachel D'Oro)