And organisers responded by taking the unusual step of stopping the raceclock after the first of eight laps through the streets of Paris because of the poor weather.
Spectators who travel to Willow by car or shuttle bus can once again line "the chute" on Sunday afternoon to cheer on mushers as the raceclock officially begins.
From Willow, where the raceclock starts ticking, mushers and their dog teams will begin making their way through unforgiving wilderness toward the finish line in the old frontier town of Nome on Alaska's western coast.