Iditarod

Brent Sass and his 11-dog team dashed out of the White Mountain checkpoint at 7:05 p.m., with just 77 miles to the finish line.

“Nice to be in Eskimo country!” said Iñupiaq musher Ryan Redington. He said his mother was born and raised in Unalakleet, and it’s been nice to visit with the community.

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.

“If the team slows down too much, then she starts barking to get them to go faster,” said Paige Drobny.

Sass pulled in at 11:05 a.m. Monday. He can race on at 7:05 p.m.

Chatanika musher Kaduce says it’s a combination of luck and good dog care habits that have helped him surge to the front of the pack,

A lot can go wrong on 1,000 miles of 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!

While she’s a newbie to the Iditarod, Lyrek has already proven her mettle in long-distance dog mushing. At age 19, she won the 2019 600-kilometer Finnmarksløpet, one of the biggest races in Europe.

Seavey talked to reporters during his pause in Unalakleet early Sunday. Listen to the interview.

Sass charged through the first coastal checkpoint in Unalakleet, with Dallas Seavey resting for a few hours there before pushing ahead.

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.

Mushers reported a hard and fast trail on the frozen Yukon River and temperatures below zero.

Iditarod musher Brent Sass and his dog team raced out of Kaltag at 10:36 a.m. Saturday.

Neff said he was given the choice of being disqualified or scratching because of concerns from veterinarians about his dogs.

What Nala lacks in leadership, she more than makes up for in personality.

“A lot of dogs here, they love to be hugged and cuddled and snuggled. And she likes it to some extent, but then she wants her space,” said Anja Radano. “And I'm the same way.”

"We've been dealing with the moguls from the start," says Richie Diehl. "It'll be nice to be on the river."

Sherlock doesn’t live up to his name. “He would not be a very good detective," says Olson.