Iditarod

After arriving to Rainy Pass in third, Hugh Neff wasted no time in getting back on the trail.

Mackey’s 21st place finish in this year’s race will be vacated after the positive test from a sample collected in White Mountain, the Iditarod statement says. Mackey finished the race, his 16th Iditarod, in Nome on March 19.

Since we left off, an Iditarod musher has tested positive for COVID-19 and been withdrawn, Dallas Seavey has taken the lead in his return to the race and, instead of leaving problematic sections of trail behind, mushers are heading back over them,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.

Sven and Ghost led Ryan Redington to his first Iditarod victory on Tuesday.

This year’s Iditarod restart will be in Fairbanks for only the second time in the race’s 43-year history. Poor trail conditions prompted the move, and many some mushers are happy with the change. For businesses in the Susitna Valley, however, there will be a significant economic impact. Download Audio

At least one musher was stopped by a half-dozen buffalo on the trail from Rohn to Nikolai.

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.

Dallas Seavey is hanging onto a narrow Iditarod lead. He pulled into the Elim checkpoint at a little before 4pm this afternoon. Aliy Zirkle joined him there soon after. Just a mile or two separated them on the run from Koyuk. Aaron Burmeister, Ramey Smyth and Pete Kaiser are chasing the leaders.

) The 2014 Iditarod will easily go down in the books as one of the most memorable. From snow-starved trails to lightning-fast runs, conditions were treacherous for this years field, nearly a third of which have been forced to scratch. Mike Santos is among the many who called it quits in Rohn after a particularly rough stretch after Rainy Pass. But, for Santos, it's not about the race, it's all about the dogs.

Mitch Seavey left the Iditarod checkpoint of White Mountain at 1:11 this afternoon. Aliy Zirkle followed 13 minutes later. According to GPS, she is currently running about one mile behind Seavey. Seavey is a former Iditarod champion. Zirkle’s best finish in the race was second, last year.

Aliy Zirkle and John Baker are leading the Iditarod. The mushers left the Nikolai checkpoint at 1:50 this afternoon. Jeff King, Lance Mackey, Mitch Seavey and Hugh Neff followed out of Nikolai about an hour later.

Among the 57 mushers, a dozen are rookies competing in the Iditarod for the first time.

Mushers and their teams are making their runs down the Yukon River. KNOM’s Emily Schwing caught up with two mushers who have roots in Western Alaska mushers to find out how their races are going.

Huslia marks the halfway point along this year’s Iditarod Trail. Many mushers are looking forward to leaving the Yukon River and heading for the tiny Interior village.

Meet Dusty, a leader on Iditarod rookie Jennifer LaBar’s team.

Near the first Iditarod checkpoint on the Yukon River, the Ruby Bible Church was selling a soup and sandwich lunch special for $5. When I arrived, there were three options to pick from, and I went with the "Seven Bean and Black Bear" offering.