Iditarod

When Aliy Zirkle sped through Kaltag, she refused to answer question about an incident that involved a snow machine collision on the Yukon River overnight. After traveling down the trail in the afternoon sun for a few hours, Zirkle decided to camp with her dog team until afternoon temperatures cooled. Download Audio

Unalakleet was buzzing overnight as Iditarod mushers and their dog teams arrived on the Bering Sea Coast. As KNOM’s Emily Schwing reports, their sense of urgency was palpable. Download Audio

Brent Sass has been hard to catch in this year’s Iditarod. He has camped outside of checkpoints for the majority of the race, stopping only long enough to grab food and supplies, running his team much like he would in Alaska’s other 1,000 mile sled dog race, the Yukon Quest. Download Audio

It’s been a week of racing for mushers in the Iditarod, and those in the middle of the pack are struggling. Though, it’s for a variety of different reasons. As Alaska Public Media’s Zachariah Hughes reports, for some the difficulty is the race itself, but for others it’s the challenges inside the lives they’re away from while out on the trail. Download Audio

Nearly thirty Iditarod teams have reached the Bering Sea checkpoint of Unalakleet as of Sunday evening. The race enters its final phase here: a mad push north along the largely treeless coastline, where fast-changing ice conditions and exposure to the wind throw new elements into racers' strategies.

A day-long march up the coast and across the sea ice has boiled down to an honest race for Nome as a father-son duo from Seward battle it out on the Iditarod trail against each other and an Interior musher who has trained tirelessly to cross under the burled arch ahead of the pack. This year’s race could come down to a combination of speed and power among dogs and pure grit and desire among mushers. Download Audio

Competition is hardly confined to the front as Iditarod teams sprint along the coast. Mushers in Unalakleet are hoping to hop, skip, and leap-frog their teams toward the top 10.

Reigning Iditarod champion Dallas Seavey is the first musher into White Mountain. He checked in at 9.48 a.m. Monday for the mandatory 8-hour layover at the checkpoint before continuing on the final 77 miles to Nome by way of Safety.

39 minutes separate Dallas Seavey from his father, Mitch Seavey, in the final stretch of the 2016 Iditarod. Brent Sass is in pursuit in the third position as the race comes to a sprint finish. Dallas Seavey pulled into White Mountain at 9:48 Monday--the exact same time of his record-setting 2014 win. But between White Mountain and Nome that year, a ground blizzard ended the race for then-leader Jeff King, and Dallas pushed through the Safety checkpoint and past Aliy Zirkle for the win.

Dallas Seavey, Mitch Seavey, and Brent Sass are racing to the finish of the 2016 Iditarod from White Mountain to Nome. Alaska Public Media reporters will bring you the latest from the final miles of the last great race.

It was about 7:15am, and Schwing had just seen a press release about a snowmachiner hitting Aily Zirkle and Jeff King en route to Nulato overnight, killing a dog and injuring others. "Zach - get up! GET UP!" I started making calls and poking at the computer while Schwing roused her pilot and basically sprinted toward the plane, and Nulato.

The top three teams in this year’s Iditarod have pulled into White Mountain, the final big stop along the trail. But as KNOM’s Emily Schwing reports, it’s not entirely clear who will finish first. Download Audio

Many of the Iditarod's most accomplished mushers are struggling with this year's trail. Jeff King lost a sled-dog during an incident outside Nulato with a snowmachine. Just before 10am this morning, Lance Mackey scratched in Galena, citing personal health concerns. And Martin Buser took a spill on the way into Unalakleet that had him blacking out from pain. Alaska Public Media's Zachariah Hughes caught up with Buser to see how he'll make the remainder of his trip to Nome. Download Audio

Dallas Seavey is the Iditarod's newest four-time champion. He crossed beneath the Burled Arch in Nome at 2:20 a.m. Tuesday with six dogs and hugged his family and championship dogs. His family now owns six titles, including two from his father, Mitch. His grandfather, Dan Seavey, ran the first Iditarod in 1973.

As Dallas Seavey was jogging into Nome, his main rival for much of the race, Eureka musher Brent Sass, hadn’t left White Mountain. After barreling down the trail at the front of the pack, Sass’s dogs had had enough.

The Iditarod's top-5 finishers are rounded out, and more are on their way to Nome today. Dallas Seavey won his third-straight Iditarod, checking into Nome at 2:20 this morning [Tuesday], followed about 45 minutes later by his father, Mitch Seavey.

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog race is 1,000 miles long, but for a couple dog teams, the most competitive stretch of trail came down to the final mile.

As Iditarod mushers continue trickling into Nome, onlookers got a treat as Brent Sass roared at about 11 p.m. Wednesday night.

At the Iditarod Banquet in Nome Sunday night, mushers, fans, and race officials celebrated the 44th running of the Last Great Race. Before they announced awards, though, organizers presented Aliy Zirkle and Jeff King with a special donation from the community of Nulato.