Iditarod

In our first daily Iditarod dog profile, we bring you Stealie, rookie Eric Kelly's main leader.

The 2022 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race kicked off Saturday in Anchorage with its usual fanfare, after not holding a ceremonial start in 2021. Alaska Public Media reporters Casey Grove, Tegan Hanlon, Lex Treinen and Jeff Chen were out in the snow with the mushers, dogs and race fans, including plenty of kids and other trailgaters.

As one race fan put it, the Iditarod felt back to "normal-ish."

Some mushers worried about the heat for their dogs as warm temperatures heated the snow.

Finger Lake is about 125 miles into the 1,000-mile race.

As Alaska Public Media reporters Jeff Chen and Lex Treinen head out on the trail, Iditapod host Casey Grove updates some of the early Iditarod standings. Plus, we have a story of an ER nurse whose training for the Iditarod helped him cope with the trauma of working on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic. Lex also brings us a report on the Sunday restart in Willow, as well as another dog profile, and we have a couple questions with a couple different answers (watch out: one involves some math).

Rookie Gerhardt Thiart has a very specific story for choosing Viva for his Iditarod team. Last year, he was running an Iditarod qualifier when he...

A couple hundred people packed into the basement of Settlers Bay Lodge last week to commemorate the earlier years of the Iditarod. 

Editor's note: This extended interview discusses a violent encounter with a moose and might not be suitable for all listeners. Alaska Public Media's Lex Treinen gets all the details of rookie Iditarod musher Bridgett Watkins' run-in with a moose while on a training run near Salcha, in Interior Alaska, in early February.

The race started Sunday in Willow. The winner is expected sometime early next week in Nome, on Alaska’s western coast.

Running the Iditarod takes months of preparation, training and a lot of money. While some mushers have major tour businesses and sponsors that help fund their kennels and pay for staff, Radano waits tables to help balance the big bills that come with being a dog musher.

At Rainy Pass Lodge, many mushers soaked up the mountain views and the love from a few excited tourists who arrived on charter planes.

Teams must navigate the Dalzell Gorge on their way to Rohn. It's marked by a series of steep downhills and some very tight turns.

For his first-place arrival, Burmeister won a pair of locally-made musher mitts and a musher hat.

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

Fairbanks veteran Lisbet Norris doesn’t hesitate to say she has a favorite dog on her team of fluffy Siberian huskies. 

Alberta musher Aaron Peck has some contradictory things to say about Tundra, a 5-time Iditarod veteran and one of his main leaders. “He's a leader,...

Sherlock doesn’t live up to his name. “He would not be a very good detective," says Olson.

Hugh Neff said his 54-year-old arms were exhausted by the constant bumping. “I’ve taken a few Tylenols, let’s say,” he said.

Defending champion Dallas Seavey was the first musher to leave of Ophir. Brent Sass later passed him on the trail.