Iditarod

For these fans, "trailgating" is a chance to share a moment, and maybe a hotdog, with their favorite mushers.

Jeff King overtook Aliy Zirkle early Monday morning in the 2014 Iditarod. King took off from Elim about 1 a.m. and Zirkle, who had battled King and Martin Buser for the lead, left less than 10 minutes later. Dallas Seavey, who won two years ago, jumped into third place and was out of Elim about 2:52 this morning. While Zirkle, and King had spent more than an hour in Elim, Seavey was in and out of the checkpoint in minutes.

As dogs teams drop onto the Yukon River, Iditarod mushers will find out how their race plans are playing out. The next 140 miles of long, flat river will shine some light on who has the most speed and who needs a little more rest. No one is quite sure exactly what’s going on with race strategies this year. In fact even the most experienced mushers are scratching their heads.

Halfway to Nome, teams’ locations on the map are just dots, or perhaps more appropriately, asterisks. The question this morning is not “where are...

In this episode we talk about: - This year's Kuskokwim 300 with Ben Matheson. - Mushing's rural to urban migration with Zachariah Hughes

A new Iditarod champion has been crowned. Bethel musher Pete Kaiser’s team of 8 dogs crossed under the Burled Arch in Nome at 3:39 a.m. Wednesday, March 13, 2019. A boisterous crowd of friends and family from the Bethel area traveled to Nome to celebrate Kaiser’s victory. The 31-year-old wins $50,000 and a new truck. It’s a career highlight for Kaiser, who has raced the iditarod each year since 2010. On three separate occasions he’s placed as high as 5th, but this is his first win. His run took 9 days 12 hours and 39 minutes.

The top teams have left White Mountain and they are on their way to the Iditarod finish line in Nome. Spectators are unlikely to see a major shakeup in the front end of the field, but this year’s race is likely to end with career bests for many of the teams up front. Download Audio

As top Iditarod teams reached the checkpoint at Galena, several were trying to account for their spots at the top of the pack. Alaska Public Media’s Zachariah Hughes spoke with three mushers surprised for one reason or another with their place in the standings. Download Audio

Just an hour separates mushers Dallas Seavey and Aaron Burmeister, with less than 70 miles to the finish line.

Dallas Seavey, Mitch Seavey, and Brent Sass are racing to the finish of the 2016 Iditarod from White Mountain to Nome. Alaska Public Media reporters will bring you the latest from the final miles of the last great race.

Shock is the best way to describe the reaction from spectators and mushers alike as news of a rogue snowmachine attack on two well-known mushers broke early Saturday morning.

Fairbanks veteran Lisbet Norris doesn’t hesitate to say she has a favorite dog on her team of fluffy Siberian huskies. 

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog race is 1,000 miles long, but for a couple dog teams, the most competitive stretch of trail came down to the final mile.

Martin Buser and his son, Rohn, stopped for only a few minutes in Takotna and bolted into the Iditarod lead Wednesday morning. Martin Buser arrived in Takotna about 8:30 am, stopped a few minutes and then headed towards the ghost town of Ophir. Rohn, who won the Kusko 300 earlier this year, reached Takotna about 9:45 am and left almost immediately. As of 11:30 Wednesday morning, Aliy Zirkle, who had led much of the race, was still in Takotna.

I feel like it’s my first day really on the trail. Sure, I flew to Finger Lake for a 20-minute stop yesterday, but the hurried visit didn’t have the same feeling to it. We rushed out so we wouldn’t get stuck in a snow storm and only briefly experienced the lines of dogs sleeping on hay as the mushers rested. Here, it’s a whole town that’s experiencing the Iditarod, maybe for better or for worse.