Iditarod

ll news stories about the Iditarod or mushing in general are categorized “Iditarod.”

Former Iditarod Champion Reflects On Women Of The Iditarod

This year's running of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race will soon have a winner. Back in 1985, Libby Riddles - who's lived in Homer for the past decade - was the first woman to win the race. KBBI's Marcia Lynn recently talked with Riddles about the role of women in the Iditarod and how things have changed over the years.

Petit First Out of Taknota, Heads Iditarod Field

Nicolas Petit took the Iditarod lead Tuesday evening when he was the first to dart out of Taknota about 8:35 p.m. He spent just a few minutes in Taknota and headed towards Ophir.
A man kisses a dog on the cheek

Iditarod dog found months after disappearing from checkpoint

An Iditarod sled dog was found safe after disappearing from a checkpoint in the race three months ago and covering nearly 150 miles.

Yukon Quest Mushers Drop Off Food For The Trail

The start of the Yukon Quest is less than two weeks out, and a key pre race milestone, the food drop was held Saturday. Mushers dropped off bags of food and supplies to be delivered to checkpoints along the thousand mile race trail.

Billy McCarty: Ruby's Master Sled Maker

The wood sled has all but disappeared from the Iditarod trail.  Mushers now prefer to use sleds made from aluminum or composite materials, which...

New Mushing Magazine Owners Plan to Grow Coverage

Robert and Michele Forto will continue to publish the print magazine while expanding online offerings.

Iditapod: March to the coast

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.
A dog team runs through the snow

On Yukon River, Iditarod teams recuperate from early bruises and strategize big moves

The trail on the Yukon River is reportedly hard and fast making for relatively easy running. But it makes plotting a surge up the standings tricky.

Iditapod: Hanging onto a lead and an Iditarod dream

Ryan Redington has a secure hold on first place in the 2023 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, heading into the final 100 miles of trail. Meanwhile, one rookie musher had some trouble holding onto his dog sled, after falling asleep, falling off and getting a fortuitous lift. We have a listener question, not about losing a dog team, but about losing stuff along the Iditarod Trail. And it's a twofer of Dogs of the Day: Riley Dyche's smart and mellow Elway and Mike Williams Jr.'s smart and hyper Viper.
A man in a green hoodie and a seal hat and a parka

‘Best in the world’: Tight race shapes up for lead as top Iditarod teams head for the coast

With defending champ Brent Sass out, the top of the Iditarod field is scrambled, leaving four main teams at the top.

Iditarod Trail Altered To Avoid ‘Happy River Steps’

Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race organizers are deciding to make a change in the route for the 2012 race. This year’s race marks the 40th run, and it follows the Northern route.

Iditapod: Leaders into Iditarod, where to 24 and snack attack returns!

As Iditarod mushers decide when and where to take their mandatory 24-hour layovers, the leaders are in to the ghost town of Iditarod. And our trail reporters are breaking into their snack packs! Also, we hear from a Takotna elder about the moose he shot and fed at the village checkpoint.
A man cradling a full-sized sled dog in his arms like a baby

Nala, the peppy cheerleader who’s a little afraid of bubble gum

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

For mushers who know real-life struggle, Iditarod is only part of a bigger journey

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

Our 16 favorite photos of frosty Iditarod mushers and fuzzy muzzles

With temperatures plunging deep into the negatives on Tuesday, mushers and dogs sported a coating of frost when they pulled into Nikolai, a small village about a quarter of the way into the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Iditapod: The ol’ Norwegian switcheroo, and the old guard passes the mantle

There was a major shakeup at the front of the 2018 Iditarod on Monday, when Joar Leifseth Ulsom slipped past previous leader Nicolas Petit while Petit lost the trail on the Bering Sea coast between Shaktoolik and Koyuk. The table is now set for Ulsom, first to White Mountain and only 77 miles from the finish in Nome, to win his first Iditarod championship and the first for a Norwegian -- or anybody else not originally from the U.S. -- since 2005. But, as we hear in this episode, a lead and a long rest at White Mountain hasn't always translated to a win. Meantime, many of mushing's old guard are happy to pass the mantle to the next generation of elite mushers (not including defending champ Mitch Seavey, still mushing near the front in third place).

Iditarod Field Notes: #7

Blog by Ellen Lockyer, KSKA - Anchorage Nome Wednesday Lance Mackey pulled it off. Hans Gatt almost caught him. Jeff King finished his Iditarod career...

Rookie’s Grandpa Made Original Serum Run

Rooke Middy Johnson has family ties to the original 1925 serum run. Unalakleet musher William 'Middy' Johnson is a rookie, but his grandfather, Henry...

Ryan Redington will be first musher on 2017 Iditarod Trail

Ryan Redington will be the first musher to hit the trail Monday morning in this year’s Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. The grandson of Iditarod race founder Joe Redington, Sr., the younger Redington pulled bib #2 from a mukluk at the Iditarod Mushers’ Drawing Banquet Thursday night. Listen now

Iditapod: Big push to the coast

Girdwood's Nicolas Petit stayed in the lead of the 2019 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Sunday after making a long 90ish-mile run from Kaltag to Unalakleet overnight. We hear from a couple Yukon-Kuskokwim-area rookies in this year's race, and a couple YK-area parents with kids in the Iditarod. Plus, a question about climate change and a conversation with Iditarod musher Kristin Knight Pace, who has a book out called "This Much Country."