Iditapod: The dog days of Iditarod

A dog team runs up a frozen riverbank
Dan Kaduce approaches Nikolai. Kaduce arrived with two dogs in his sled, which he left with veterinarians. He said the run from Rohn was one of the hardest he’d had in a decade. (Lex Treinen/Alaska Public Media)

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.

RELATED: After mud and moguls, Iditarod teams recover in Nikolai

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a portrait of a man outside

Casey Grove is host of Alaska News Nightly, a general assignment reporter and an editor at Alaska Public Media. Reach him atcgrove@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Caseyhere

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