FAIRBANKS – The Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race is operating in high-tech fashion this year with the addition of GPS trackers to 23 of the 24 mushers.

The exception is Yukoner Gerry Willomitzer, who opted out.

The Quest has formed a partnership with Spot, the company which manufactures the tracking devices and Trackleaders.com, where the results are being posted and updated every 10 minutes.

It means fans have a new way to connect with the Quest as it winds its way from Fairbanks to Whitehorse at a surprisingly fast clip.

Wendy Morrison, the outgoing Yukon Quest International Society Yukon executive director, said the Spot trackers are an exciting addition for race enthusiasts.

"Our fans are going to get so much more out of it,” Morrison said.

Fans will now be able to log onto www.trackleaders.com and see exactly where their favourite mushers are, instead of waiting for updates from checkpoints.

The Spot trackers will also enable families to keep an eye on their loved ones along the way. Morrison said the mushers' families were especially keen on the idea to start using GPS.

"The families are really supportive of this,” Morrison said. "Some of them talked with their families and they said, ‘We want you to have this.'”

The GPS trackers are also enabling organizers to have a better idea of when the mushers will be coming into checkpoints to better prepare for their arrival.

This year, the decision was left up to each musher whether to attach the device to their sleds.

The decision to start using GPS trackers comes after many popular sled dog races have already made the technology mandatory for entrants.

While fans will be celebrating their new ability to follow the race from start to finish, one musher is not entirely happy with the new technology.

Willomitzer is the only musher to decline to carry the small Spot tracker. The four-time Quest runner says he has three reasons not to use the tracker this year, including keeping his competitors in the dark.

"It's not that I think I want to be a stealth musher,” he said.

The first reason Willomitzer stated is that handlers at each checkpoint have access to the information, creating an unfair advantage for veteran handlers who can inform their musher as they come in. Each checkpoint on the Quest has Internet access.

"Make it mandatory and then make the data accessible to everyone,” Willomitzer said, adding that if the devices were to become mandatory, he would definitely use one.

He suggests having the data central for all handlers to view and discuss.

He also said the mushers have ultimate control over the tracker.

"The mushers can turn this thing off too.”

Morrison said the trackers shouldn't affect anyone's strategy on the trail.

"If they rely on it, it might not give them a bigger picture,” she said. "We don't know how helpful that information is going to be.”

Musher Hans Gatt said he doesn't expect anything to change with the implementation of GPS tracking.

"You know where your closest competitors are on the trail,” he said.

Gatt also doesn't see any mushers using the new information.

"The reality is, you're not going to get into a checkpoint and go on the Internet and look where the other mushers are,” he said.

Gatt added the rules remain the same this year, even with the tracking.

"In the end, the fastest dog team wins,” he said. "That's the rule.”

Willomitzer's second reason to spurn the technology is that the GPS trackers take away the element of surprise at each checkpoint, as fans and organizers generally have no inkling of which musher is going to show up when.

"It's a very exciting element,” Willomitzer said.

His final reason is that the mushers who start the race do so because they are ready, and shouldn't need to be tracked.

"You don't put a car on the road that's not roadworthy,” he said.

But Willomitzer said the trackers will add to the fans' experience.

"It's just a different way of following the race,” he said.

Willomitzer expects the GPS devices will become mandatory for next year's race, but said he is interested to see how it goes this year.

"Everybody is starting with it, but how many are going to finish with them?” he asked.