Iditarod

Minnesota musher Gunnar Johnson tested positive for COVID-19 at the checkpoint in McGrath, near mile 310 a little less than halfway through the race.

The Iditarod is trying to track down two mushers who shared a tent with Gunnar Johnson and may have been exposed to the virus.

More than two dozen Iditarod teams are retracing their route back to Willow Friday afternoon after reaching this year’s turnaround spot. Four-time Iditarod champion Dallas Seavey and his dogs are holding onto the lead, and another team has called it quits on the trail.

Since we left off, an Iditarod musher has tested positive for COVID-19 and been withdrawn, Dallas Seavey has taken the lead in his return to the race and, instead of leaving problematic sections of trail behind, mushers are heading back over them,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

The Iditarod’s five top mushers were running within two hours of each other Saturday as they started their last push to the finish line, with Aaron Burmeister of Nome seizing the lead in search of his first victory.

Dog musher Quince Mountain sat down with Raymie Redington, son of Iditarod founder Joe Redington Sr., to talk about dog mushing, the history of the race and a lot more.

Just an hour separates mushers Dallas Seavey and Aaron Burmeister, with less than 70 miles to the finish line.

This is Seavey’s fifth Iditarod win, tying him with Rick Swenson for the most Iditarod victories ever. Swenson has held the record alone since 1991.

Dallas Seavey has won the 2021 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, tying Rick Swenson's five first-place finishes for the most ever. Will he be back next year to vie for a sixth? That is the question... Also, a sleepless but not tired Alaska Public Media reporter Tegan Hanlon fills us in on the scene at the finish, including interviews with Seavey and Aaron Burmeister, who took second.

Mushers will also have to get COVID tested three times before the start of the 1,000-mile race to Nome, and once in the checkpoint of McGrath.

Six years ago, Kailyn Davis adopted Zeke. He was a hairless, scabby rescue dog. She says running with a dog team has helped him heal.

The five-time champ will have to defeat numerous top teams, including his dad's, if he wants to make history this year as the winningest Iditarod musher.

Heavy rain and snow have forced moose onto dog trails resulting in several harrowing encounters.

Bridgett Watkins was training near Salcha when a moose attacked her team, stomping it repeatedly.

Four-time Iditarod champion Jeff King says he took 30 minutes to think about it and then said yes.

Matt Paveglio will start the Iditarod after watching dozens of patients die during the COVID-19 pandemic. He also had to bury his mother.

The race, in some ways, is back to normal: Mushers are again dashing 1,000 miles to Nome.

The five-decade history of the Iditarod is a story filled with adventure, skill, triumph and lots of change, and it's best told by those who have experienced it, firsthand.

Iditapod is back for the 50th running of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Host Casey Grove and fellow Alaska Public Media reporters Tegan Hanlon, Lex Treinen and Jeff Chen discuss last year's pandemic-altered Iditarod, some of the mid-distance sled dog races this season, as well as COVID-19 protocols (and already a scratch/switcheroo), scary moose encounters and the heartwarming story of an unlikely Iditarod dog.

Win or lose, this year’s Iditarod across Alaska will be his last — at least for a while.