Iditapod

This bonus Iditapod episode features the full recording of a press conference with 2023 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Champion Ryan Redington, right after he and his dogs crossed the finish line in Nome on Tuesday, March 14. This was recorded by Alaska Public Media's Lex Treinen, and you'll hear him and some other reporters asking Redington questions about all different parts of the race.

Alaska Native mushers took the podium in the 2023 Iditarod, with the Knik Kid, Ryan Redington, winning his first championship and Bethel's Pete Kaiser and Aniak's Richie Diehl mushing into second and third place. The race's top 10 were all into Nome by Wednesday morning, and we have an update on Rookie of the Year honors, as well as three Dogs of the Day, two listener questions and a story about collecting dog pee. Also: This'll do it for Season 7 of the Iditapod. Thanks for coming along with us on this thousand-mile journey!

The 40-year-old Ryan Redington has won his first Iditarod and the first championship for the Redington family, on his 16th try (and after six previous scratches). "I've just been on pins and needles," said his mom, Barb, at the finish line. We'll hear Redington's finish itself in this episode, and from Alaska Public Media's Lex Treinen about the finish and how Redington arrived there first. The dog friends that did the leading into Nome -- Sven and Ghost -- are our obvious picks for Dogs of the Day. And we have a listener question about dog-human friends, with a fun answer from a friendly musher.

Ryan Redington claimed his first Iditarod championship a little after noon Tuesday with six dogs in harness and an official race time of 8 days, 21 hours, 12 minutes and 58 seconds. We have a whole bunch more coverage of Redington's finish and the rest of the race at alaskapublic.org, and we're still working on a full episode of the Iditapod. But, for now, we're going to go to Nome and the raw, live radio coverage from our partners at KNOM radio. Here's KNOM's Davis Hovey with the live call from the finish line.

We have a quick bonus episode here for you, as Ryan Redington is on the home stretch to Nome, looking like he's going to claim his first Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race championship. This is our morning Iditarod report, it has some different theme music, but it'll set things up for the finish.

Ryan Redington has a secure hold on first place in the 2023 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, heading into the final 100 miles of trail. Meanwhile, one rookie musher had some trouble holding onto his dog sled, after falling asleep, falling off and getting a fortuitous lift. We have a listener question, not about losing a dog team, but about losing stuff along the Iditarod Trail. And it's a twofer of Dogs of the Day: Riley Dyche's smart and mellow Elway and Mike Williams Jr.'s smart and hyper Viper.

In this extended interview, we hear more from John Suter, an Iditarod finisher who famously had a team that included poodles. Suter ran the Iditarod with poodles in 1988, '89, '90 and '91, finishing each year ahead of other teams racing more traditional sled dogs.

Reigning Iditarod champion Brent Sass has scratched from this year's race, due to what race officials described as “periodontal health” issues. So 31 teams remained in the race Saturday, and in this episode we hear from the chase pack-turned lead pack about how they were feeling about heading up the Yukon River, plus more from the top rookies in this year's race. We have a powerhouse Dog of the Day with a funny, uh, pungent name, and a listener question about sled dog breeds that led us to the famous poodle musher.

Iditarod teams are passing through the village checkpoint of Anvik and onto the Yukon River.  We have that, as well as stories from earlier on the trail about how mushers were setting their teams up for these runs earlier in the checkpoint of Iditarod and about the tiny village of Takotna reopening as an Iditarod checkpoint this year, after closing down due to COVID. Then there'll be an update from Jason Mackey about carrying his brother Lance Mackey's ashes along the trail, a Mackey Dog of the Day named COVID and a listener question about what the mushers are listening to, if they're listening to anything at all, aside from, you know, dog feet and sled runners.

Iditarod veteran and frequent top 10 finisher Jessie Royer talks to Alaska Public Media's Lex Treinen in Takotna.

In this episode, we hear from Iditarod mushers in the midst of their required 24-hour layovers and from our current Red Lantern musher. We also have a chat with a former top 10 musher who's returning to the race and running a team of mostly rookie dogs, plus a look at the Iditarod's new pilot program for tracking dropped dogs. And as always we have our Dog of the Day -- not a new dog but a dog who got a new name -- and a listener question with answers from several mushers this time. (Hint: This one might make you hungry).

Iditarod mushers are making decisions about where to stop for their mandatory 24-hour rests, some opting to take that break earlier than planned, as the teams continue to contend with warm weather. The village of Nikolai is also fully open to visitors for the first time in three years of COVID-19 restrictions, and that's where some mushers were dealing with busted sleds and their own bruised bodies. In this episode, we also get into how the race shapes up after those 24-hour layovers and how the weather is expected to change for the cooler. Plus, we have a speedy Dog of the Day, Matt Failor's Mach 10, who's learning to slow down, plus a listener question, a musher answer and a follow-up to yesterday's question about adopting retired sled dogs.

Iditarod teams are contending with warm weather in the thousand-mile race, many choosing to run in the cool of night as much as possible. We'll talk about that in this episode, plus a little about what other sports some mushers have participated in outside of mushing. We have another Dog of the Day -- this time, a trusty leader named JoAnna -- and, as always, a listener question.

Iditarod sled dog teams are into the first 200 miles of trail, after the race clock started ticking Sunday. Mushers are pacing their dogs and there's a lot of leapfrogging going on out there, as they follow their own run-rest schedules. In this episode, we have a look at the competitiveness of the small field, and we have our Dog of the Day -- a big boy named Boomer -- as well as a listener question about day jobs, for those who do not list their fulltime occupation as "dog musher."

In this extended, pre-Iditarod interview, reigning Iditarod and Yukon Quest 550 champion Brent Sass talks to Iditapod reporter Lex Treinen about Sass's hectic life at his homestead north of Fairbanks, in Eureka, about his newfound confidence going into this year's Iditarod and his philosophy about dog mushing.

Iditarod mushers took their sled dog teams on an untimed, celebratory fun run from downtown Anchorage on the city's trails, with hundreds of fans cheering along the way. We hear from mushers and fans – maybe the pitter patter of little dog feet – as well as a joyful bride, a grumpy bear, a curious moose (or three), a former Miss Alaska and her mom, who had a fox on her head, and more!

That's right, it's Iditarod time, and we're back with another season of Iditapod. In the first episode of our seventh season, host Casey Grove and trail reporters Lex Treinen and Ben Matheson discuss the smallest field in race history and how a quarter of the mushers in the 2023 Iditarod are rookies. We also recap last year's race, talk about the legacy of the late four-time champion Lance Mackey and we even have a Dog of the Day, a spunky little leader named Dusty.

Veteran Iditarod musher Aaron Burmeister talked to Alaska Public Media's Jeff Chen at the Nome radio station, KNOM, roughly a day after Burmeister finished his 21st Iditarod. Burmeister talks about stepping away from the Iditarod, about how his race went this year, and how much dog mushing has changed over the many years he's been a competitive musher.

In this hour-long interview, we hear more from 2022 Iditarod champion Brent Sass about how he's forged a unique bond with his dog team, how he draws inspiration from his idols like Susan Butcher, and how his life in his remote homestead has made him the musher he is. Alaska Public Media's Lex Treinen sat down with Sass, along with a group of other reporters, and Sass's dad Mark at the Nome Nugget newspaper in downtown Nome.

Since the Iditapod left off, after Brent Sass's epic first Iditarod victory, teams have continued to arrive in Nome, including a fun race for 3rd and 4th place, two Yukon-Kuskokwim mushers in 5th and 6th, an impressive 7th place finish for a second-year musher and a Nome local coming home to finish in 8th before stepping away. We're also going to step away, but not before we answer another listener question and bring you one last Dog of the Day.

Iditapod goes on a deep dive talking about "old school" Eureka musher Brent Sass, who won his first Iditarod championship early Tuesday in Nome. That was despite howling wind that almost caused him to stop in the final miles, with five-time champ Dallas Seavey still in pursuit, just about an hour behind. We'll take you to the finish line, plus Sass's Golden Harness dogs Slater and Morello are the subject of our listener question AND the Dog(s) of the Day.

The 1,000-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race has a new champion, as you'll hear in this morning Iditarod report from Alaska Public Media. Dog musher Brent Sass and his team of 11 dogs pulled into Nome early Tuesday, passing under the famed Burled Arch finish line just before 5:40 a.m. to win the 50th running of the Iditarod. The 42-year-old Sass and his Alaskan huskies arrived to throngs of cheering race fans lining the finish chute on Front Street for the first time since before the coronavirus pandemic hit two years ago.

Alaska Public Media's Lex Treinen caught up - just in the nick of time - with Brent Sass, who mushed into White Mountain and a mandatory eight-hour rest in the lead, in a great position to win his first Iditarod.

The Iditarod - and Iditapod - are heading into the Nome stretch, as Eureka's Brent Sass has maintained his lead, aiming for his first win with five-time champ Dallas Seavey still on his tail. We'll have more about the race at the front, as well as more about musher mistakes, how things are going for the top rookie - Hanna Lyrek - and the speedy team of Dan Kaduce. Plus… more pizza? Yep, and another peppy dog of the day, a listener question and an answer from the trail.

In this extended interview from before the 2022 Iditarod, 22-year-old Norwegian musher Hanna Lyrek told Alaska Public Media's Lex Treinen about competing in Norway's biggest sled dog race, the Finnmarksløpet, how she got her dog team to Alaska, her goals for the Iditarod and... about her dogs, of course! (We also have a story posted right now at alaskapublic.org about Lyrek's experience so far in the Iditarod).

Well, we've got a race, folks. Obviously, with 45 mushers out on the Iditarod Trail vying for positions, we've got a race. But at the very front, it's looking like a real battle setting up between Brent Sass and Dallas Seavey for first place. As the frontrunners head for the Bering Sea coast, we'll have a look at the teams reaching the Yukon River, we'll talk about a pretty big scratch, women mushers, a bit about superstition, and of course we have a dog profile and a listener question.

With the northern lights dancing above, we talked to Iditarod leader Brent Sass as he danced through the Ruby checkpoint and onto the Yukon River, skipping a gourmet five-course meal in favor of more comfortable cold temperatures for his dogs. We'll also hear more from Sass and his fellow competitors on their 24-hour layover earlier, and from the back of the pack, a trio of women, who banded together in a snow storm. Plus we have a dog profile and THREE listeners asking the same question, with an answer straight from the musher in question and a separate listener... answer?

Iditarod mushers and their dog teams are now either in the middle of their mandatory 24-hour layovers or back out on the trail, if they opted to do that earlier. We've got the frontrunners at the Cripple checkpoint, as well as a chat with the folks who 24ed in McGrath, now making up the chase pack. There's also an old-timer for our Dog of the Day, a couple listener questions about how to get into dog mushing and, related, what it means to be a handler.

Kaktovik dog musher Apayauq Reitan, the first out trans woman to compete in the Iditarod, talks to Iditapod colleague and Alaska Public Media contributor Shady Grove Oliver - originally for a piece in the Guardian newspaper - about Reitan's goals for this year's race, what it's like to mush dogs, her Alaska Native culture, coming out as trans and a lot more.

Our Iditapod crew gets caught up - to get you caught up - as sled dog teams in the 2022 Iditarod race through the third full day of mushing the 1,000-mile trail. We'll hear about some of the most technically difficult sections and get an update on who is where... for now. We'll also hear from mushers Aaron Burmeister and Apayauq Reitan, among others, and we also have a bully of a Dog of the Day and a listener question about how to find the trail (because sometimes it's not so obvious).

**Warning: This extended interview discusses a violent encounter with a moose and might not be suitable for all listeners. Alaska Public Media's Lex Treinen gets all the details of rookie Iditarod musher Bridgett Watkins' run-in with a moose while on a training run near Salcha, in Interior Alaska, in early February.

As Alaska Public Media reporters Jeff Chen and Lex Treinen head out on the trail, Iditapod host Casey Grove updates some of the early Iditarod standings. Plus, we have a story of an ER nurse whose training for the Iditarod helped him cope with the trauma of working on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic. Lex also brings us a report on the Sunday restart in Willow, as well as another dog profile, and we have a couple questions with a couple different answers (watch out: one involves some math).

The 2022 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race kicked off Saturday in Anchorage with its usual fanfare, after not holding a ceremonial start in 2021. Alaska Public Media reporters Casey Grove, Tegan Hanlon, Lex Treinen and Jeff Chen were out in the snow with the mushers, dogs and race fans, including plenty of kids and other trailgaters.

Iditapod is back for the 50th running of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Host Casey Grove and fellow Alaska Public Media reporters Tegan Hanlon, Lex Treinen and Jeff Chen discuss last year's pandemic-altered Iditarod, some of the mid-distance sled dog races this season, as well as COVID-19 protocols (and already a scratch/switcheroo), scary moose encounters and the heartwarming story of an unlikely Iditarod dog.

Dallas Seavey has won the 2021 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, tying Rick Swenson's five first-place finishes for the most ever. Will he be back next year to vie for a sixth? That is the question... Also, a sleepless but not tired Alaska Public Media reporter Tegan Hanlon fills us in on the scene at the finish, including interviews with Seavey and Aaron Burmeister, who took second.

**Note: this interview is from 2020. Dog musher Quince Mountain sat down with Raymie Redington, son of Iditarod founder Joe Redington Sr., to talk about dog mushing, the history of the race and a lot more.

Since we left off, an Iditarod musher has tested positive for COVID-19 and been withdrawn, Dallas Seavey has taken the lead in his return to the race and, instead of leaving problematic sections of trail behind, mushers are heading back over them, on a modified, out-and-back trail. We talk to three-time champion Mitch Seavey, who's a spectator this year, as well as Iditapod co-founder Zachariah Hughes in McGrath, and we get an Iditarod veteran's take on a listener question about dog booties.

Alaska Public Media's Tegan Hanlon talks with four-time Iditarod champion Dallas Seavey in February in the dog lot at his Talkeetna-based kennel. Seavey is back in the Iditarod this year after taking three years off following a scandal in 2017's race, after which the Iditarod said two of Seavey's dogs had tested positive for a banned pain-reliever, then later cleared him of any wrongdoing.

We rejoin the Iditarod something like 48 hours in, and, on what sounds like a hard and fast trail, mushers are pacing themselves for the shorter 850-mile race. There've been a total of three scratches so far, none bigger than Aliy Zirkle, who suffered a concussion and upper body injury in the Dalzell Gorge and had to be flown out of Rohn by helicopter. Also, we catch up with our pal Zachariah Hughes in McGrath.

The 2021 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is going to look a lot different, one year into a global COVID-19 pandemic. (The Iditapod’s going to be pretty different this year, too, as we'll explain). The ceremonial start is canceled, so the race begins Sunday in Willow under strict COVID-19 protocols, with a shortened trail that doubles back on itself, a challenge to sled dog teams to cross the Alaska Range not once, but twice, plus coronavirus testing along the way and less access to indoor spaces at checkpoints... This Iditarod is certainly going to be unique.

Alaska Public Media's Zachariah Hughes talks with veteran long-distance dog musher and past Iditarod competitor Katherine Keith about her book, "Epic Solitude." It chronicles her journey from a teenager in Minnesota, falling in love with rugged wilderness adventures, while simultaneously struggling with mental health issues and more loss than anyone should have to deal with in a lifetime.

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race has another new Norwegian champion: 46-year-old Thomas Waerner. His team arrived in Nome at 12:37 a.m. Wednesday to an enthusiastic, if smaller, crowd. And Waerner still has to figure out how to get home, what with travel restrictions from the coronavirus pandemic. Iditapod host Casey Grove talks with Alaska Public Media's Tegan Hanlon and Zachariah Hughes about what might have been the weirdest Iditarod ever, in terms of what was unfolding outside the race while it was happening. We also have a question about what the dogs dream about, and a dog profile about a pup conceived on the Iditarod Trail.

This is a quick report from our morning radio coverage of the Iditarod. It's called a radio module, and it details Norwegian musher Thomas Waerner winning the 2020 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race at 12:37 a.m. Wednesday, March 18. Waerner's team logged a time of 9 days, 10 hours, 37 minutes and 47 seconds.

It’s Tuesday, and we have a two-fer on dog profiles here on the Iditapod. And as we anticipate Norwegian musher Thomas Waerner winning the 2020 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Nome early Wednesday -- barring any unforeseen changes -- we have a story about the modified Shaktoolik checkpoint, a remembrance of an all-star volunteer checkpoint leader in Unalakleet and a little about how a major, longtime sponsor of the Iditarod has announced it’s pulling out. (Maybe not all in that order).

As front-of-the-pack Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race mushers head up the Bering Sea coast from Unalakleet to Shaktoolik and Koyuk, Norwegian musher Thomas Waerner has put his sled dog team solidly out front. There's still a group of competitive mushers behind him, though, and as we like to say often, anything can still happen. We'll hear a little from Waerner about what will likely be a difficult time getting his dog team home to Norway amid coronavirus-related travel restrictions, as well as from 2019 Iditarod champ Pete Kaiser about how a stomach-flu-like sickness hit him on the trail.

Four-time Iditarod champion Lance Mackey talks with Alaska Public Media's Zachariah Hughes at the Cripple Creek checkpoint about having a more successful race in 2020 than some recent years.

Norway's Thomas Waerner was the first to Unalakleet and the coast of Alaska in the 2020 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. But there's a storm coming and several good teams behind him. Meantime, back up the trail in Galena, Alaska Public Media’s Zachariah Hughes observed the collegial bonds among two mushers running in the middle of the pack who are at very different stages in their race and in their lives. That and much more, including another dog profile, on this latest episode of the Iditapod.

While Iditarod sled dog teams continue to mush toward the coast, the Iditapod is at home hiding under a table, in a makeshift recording studio. But we still have a report from the trail about how the mushers are learning about changes at checkpoints due to concern from coronavirus. Also in this episode: How Jessie Royer's sled caught fire, an interview with Iditarod CEO Rob Urbach, Snack Attack with Ben and Zach is back and much more.

Welcome to the Iditapod, a podcast about - what else? - the Iditarod, which is, perhaps the only major sporting event still happening -- anywhere. Yep, hanging out by yourself with a pack of dogs is starting to seem better and better every day. It’s Friday the 13th, and there’s plenty of scary news out there to worry even the least superstitious among us. We talked coronavirus with new Iditarod CEO Rob Urbach and have a story from the trail about mushers’ first reactions to hearing about the virus's impacts elsewhere. We also have a story about John Schandelmeier and how the heck he got into this race, as well as a listener question, an answer to that question, and a dog profile.

This is a brief report from our morning radio coverage at Alaska Public Media. We call it a radio module, it’s only five minutes, and it'll sound a little different. But as we’re working on a full episode of the Iditapod for Friday, which will include talking to Iditarod CEO Rob Urbach about coronavirus concerns, we figured this is the fastest way to bring you some important news since we last left off.

When it comes to concern about the coronavirus, the Iditarod is no exception. In Nome, the city council is considering calling off Iditarod festivities, and we’re also hearing about a big announcement coming from the Iditarod itself, though we’ve been told by someone close to the race that they are not going to be canceling the rest of Iditarod altogether. Meantime, we have a more positive update about Jeff King's health status, a race update, a story about a volunteer passing time tinkering on an old chainsaw, a listener question about who's the best dog whisperer and another dog profile, this one about Juke, in Karin Hendrickson's team.