Iditarod head vet, Stuart Nelson, dies suddenly at age 73

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race’s longtime head veterinarian, Stuart Nelson, died suddenly this week, race officials said Thursday.

It was not immediately clear what caused the 73-year-old Nelson’s death, but early indications were that he had suffered a sudden health event while on a run near his home in Idaho, Iditarod Race Director Mark Nordman said Thursday.

Nordman, who was also the 1,000-mile race’s marshal for decades, said he and Nelson had often worked closely for the 38 years Nelson was with the Iditarod, sometimes in difficult conditions and circumstances.

Nordman described his friend as well spoken and a true outdoorsman, who was both good with people and stubborn, “which, in his case, is a great attribute to have.”

“His passion for these dogs is bar none,” Nordman said. “He’s really going to be dearly missed. You know, we’re all kind of just in shock, right? It’s, how do you replace somebody like that?”

According to the Iditarod Trail Committee, the nonprofit that runs the race, Nelson was a graduate of the Missouri School of Veterinary Medicine who became enthusiastic about researching sled dogs as athletes and learning how to better care for them.

“We have been able to, under Stu’s direction, done so much for our pet dogs at home, other working athletes, you know, in field trials,” Nordman said. “And it’s, yeah, he was kind of the leader. You know, he was a lone wolf. He even liked to be considered that, I think, at certain times. But he, if he believed in something, he was going to fight it to the bitter end to make sure we got the right outcome for the dogs.”

Nelson was set to deliver a final report this week on three dogs that died during the 2024 race, said Nordman, who added that there was no reason to think Nelson’s death was connected in any way to his research on the dog deaths.

Dogs on the teams of Hunter Keefe, Isaac Teaford and Calvin Daugherty died during the race, the first Iditarod dog deaths since 2019.

When asked for comment in Unalakleet back in March, Nelson said the race would be conducting necropsies to better understand what happened and how to improve dog care in the future.

“I mean, it’s very unfortunate. And we try to learn everything we can for any future applications that would benefit our dog care protocols,” Nelson said. “But yeah, it’s very, very sad.”

Later in March after the race, Nelson said by email that the necropsy studies were ongoing. A race spokesperson said in August that was still the case.

Nordman said Thursday the studies were complete and the race was awaiting Nelson’s final writeup on the dog deaths by the end of this week.

The Iditarod gave condolences to Nelson’s partner, Karen McNaught, daughter Isabel, and Isabel’s partner, Iditarod veteran Riley Dyche.

In a statement, an Iditarod spokesperson shared a quote from Nelson from his bio on the race’s Faces of the Iditarod page, made in response to the question, “What do you know for sure?”

“Well, I know that we all die; that our Creator has given us the opportunity to be here; that we must be the best stewards of our animal athletes that we can possibly be.”