The course record is 7 days, 14 hours, 8 minutes and 57 seconds, set by Dallas Seavey in 2021.

According to the Board of Directors, "The object of the race is to determine which musher and dogs can cover the race in the shortest time under their own power and without aid of others. That is determined by the nose of the first dog to cross the finish line."

To facilitate that, the race has many rules. Among those rules are these:

• A participant must be 18 years old and have completed a race of similar distance or demand and a handful of lesser-distance qualifying races

• A participant must personally sign in at each checkpoint before continuing.
• A participant must take one 24-hour stop at an official checkpoint, one eight-hour stop on the Yukon River, and one eight-hour stop at White Mountain. None of these mandatory stops may be combined.
• A participant can use no more than three sleds. Those sleds must not have sails or wheels. Participants can use ski poles.
• A participant must have snowshoes, cooker and pot (with fuel to boil water), ax, cold-weather sleeping bag, non-chafing harness for each dog, eight booties for each dog, and a veterinarian notebook to be handed over at each checkpoint.
• A participant must have between 12 and 14 dogs at the start and five dogs at the finish.
• Dogs must have adequate food and water and treated humanely.

Race rules require participants to call in at various checkpoints along the way. The first 10 are the same; then, they divide, missing out some in favor of other, depending on which route the race is following that year. The checkpoints are these:

Checkpoints Anchorage (ceremonial start Willow Lake (actual race start) Yentna Station Skwentna Finger Lake Rainy Pass Rohn Roadhouse Nikolai McGrath Takotna Ophir Northern Route Cripple Ruby Galena Nulato Southern Route Iditarod Shageluk Anvik Grayling Eagle Island Kaltag Unalakleet Shaktoolik Koyuk Elim Golovin White Mountain Safety Nome

Dallas Seavey and Rick Swenson, both with five, have won the most Iditarod races. Swenson (who won in 1977, 1979, 1981, 1982, and 1991) completed 30 races and won in three different decades. Seavey won his first in 2012, becoming the youngest ever winner; he has since won in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2021.

Other multiple champions:

• Susan Butcher, 4 (1986, 1987, 1988, 1990)
• Jeff King, 4 (1993, 1996, 1998, 2006)
• Lance Mackey, 4 (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• Doug Swingley, 4 (1995, 1999, 2000, 2001)
• Martin Buser, 4 (1992, 1994, 1997, 2002)
• Mitch Seavey, 3 (2004, 2013, 2017)

1973 Dick Wilmarth 1974 Carl Huntington 1975 Emmitt Peters 1976 Jerry Riley 1977 Rick Swenson 1978 Dick Mackey 1979 Rick Swenson 1980 Joe May 1981 Rick Swenson 1982 Rick Swenson 1983 Rick Mackey 1984 Dean Osmar 1985 Libby Riddles 1986 Susan Butcher 1987 Susan Butcher 1988 Susan Butcher 1989 Joe Runyan 1990 Susan Butcher 1991 Rick Swenson 1992 Martin Buser 1993 Jeff King 1994 Martin Buser 1995 Doug Swingley 1996 Jeff King 1997 Martin Buser 1998 Jeff King 1999 Doug Swingley 2000 Doug Swingley 2001 Doug Swingley 2002 Martin Buser 2003 Robert Sørlie 2004 Mitch Seavey 2005 Robert Sørlie 2006 Jeff King 2007 Lance Mackey 2008 Lance Mackey 2009 Lance Mackey 2010 Lance Mackey 2011 John Baker 2012 Dallas Seavey 2013 Mitch Seavey 2014 Dallas Seavey 2015 Dallas Seavey 2016 Dallas Seavey 2017 Mitch Seavey 2018 Joar Leifseth Ulsom 2019 Peter Kaiser 2020 Thomas Waerner 2021 Dallas Seavey 2022 Brent Sass 2023 Ryan Redington

Rick Swenson   Susan Butcher   Martin Buser   Jeff King   Lance Mackey   Dallas Seavey