Iditarod

The village of Nikolai was bustling all day as dog teams pulled in and out of the sixth checkpoint on the Iditarod trail. After teams have passed over some of the roughest trail, the race reaches a turning point. From here, mushers will evaluate their dogs as they try to decide how best to execute a their race plans. Download Audio

Dallas Seavey was the first musher to reach the McGrath checkpoint Tuesday evening at 6:34. 11 minutes behind him--and with the fastest run time...

Reigning Iditarod champion Dallas Seavey, of Willow, leads the field Wednesday morning, spending about 5 minutes in the Ophir checkpoint before continuing on toward Cripple at 2:21 a.m.

Mushers have reached a point in the Iditarod where rest becomes strategic. Overnight, a number of them opted to push their teams further down the trail, while others chose to hunker down for a mandatory 24-hour rest. The majority of mushers who arrived first into McGrath, didn’t stay long, but some of their decisions earlier in the race, might offer clues about their race plans.

Iditarod dog teams have travelled more than 300 miles down the trail in the last three days. Defending champion Dallas Seavey. Says they’ve reached a turning point in the race.

The 2016 race strategies that mushers have chewed over for months are coming into focus as top teams near their mandatory 24-hour rest period...

There's really not a lot of "planning" for this. I'm only two days in, and I feel like more attention goes towards tracking flights, coordinating deadlines, and finding Internet than it does to figuring out who's at the front of the race and why.

It’s the fourth day of the Iditarod, and dozens of teams are in the middle of their mandatory 24 hour rests. Mitch Seavey was the first to declare his rest in Takotna, and is cleared to leave just before 11 o’clock Wednesday. The elder Seavey is a regular in Takotna, and says there are plenty of reasons for that. Download Audio

Dallas Seavey has pushed his team at the front of Iditarod pack into the old gold mining settlement of Cripple. 400 miles into the race, the three-time champion is joined by seven others out of Ophir, including Jeff King, Norwegian Robert Sorlie, and Noah Burmeister. With 14 dogs in harness, Dallas Seavey wins the Dorothy G. Page Halfway Award: $3,000 in gold nuggets. Download Audio

Trail Mix is Alaska Public Media's trail reporters inside look at covering the Iditarod sled dog race. Emily Schwing knows a lot more than I...

Long before the race ever starts, mushers pack their drop bags with gear and food to so that they have options for where and when to take their 24-hour mandatory rest along the Iditarod Trail. This year, some of them tried something new, while others are doing what they know. It’s only a matter of time before it becomes clear who has the winning strategy now that dog teams are starting to come off their long rest.

Denali musher Jeff King, so far, is the lone musher to push through Cripple toward the Ruby. The 4-time Iditarod champion spent four hours in the Cripple checkpoint, before heading down the trail at 3:05 a.m. today.

Mushers seem to be pushing their dogs a little farther down the trail this year before they opt to take their mandatory 24-hour rest. It’s a move Jeff King predicted at the ceremonial start of the race in Anchorage.

Halfway to Nome, teams’ locations on the map are just dots, or perhaps more appropriately, asterisks. The question this morning is not “where are...

Eureka musher Brent Sass has made it to the Cripple. Sass checked in shortly after noon Thursday, making him the first musher who has taken the mandatory 24-hour layover.

Four-time Iditarod champion Jeff King has arrived at the Yukon River checkpoint of Ruby. He pulled in just after 1:00 Thursday afternoon. He told...

Charley Bejna has scratched from the 2016 Iditarod. The veteran from Addison, IL pulled out of the race at 11:50 a.m. Thursday at the...

Iditarod is far more than dog racing. Small Alaska communities celebrate the arrival of longer days and the people in the community. McGrath hosts an auction fundraiser each year when the Iditarod rolls through to raise money for a local organization and a family in need. KNOM’s Emily Schwing stopped into the bar Tuesday night to get a first hand look at what the auction is all about. Download Audio

Iditarod officials are adding 50 minutes to Wasilla musher Robert Redington’s Yukon River layover after he was inadvertently allowed to leave the Nikolai checkpoint...