Iditarod

Iditarod musher Jed Stephensen said the 3-year-old dog is "just a constant explosion."

The message comes at a time when major Iditarod sponsors have dropped out, and inflation has increased the cost of participation.

The report was commissioned by a group of major sponsors after a series of controversies regarding policy changes and the handling of a doping scandal. Listen now

Iditarod mushers and their dog teams are now either in the middle of their mandatory 24-hour layovers or back out on the trail, if they opted to do that earlier. We've got the frontrunners at the Cripple checkpoint, as well as a chat with the folks who 24ed in McGrath, now making up the chase pack. There's also an old-timer for our Dog of the Day, a couple listener questions about how to get into dog mushing and, related, what it means to be a handler.

Heading into a final, mandatory, eight-hour rest in White Mountain about 40 minutes in the lead, Bethel's Peter Kaiser could be set up to win his first Iditarod in his team's 10th race. But anything can happen in that final 77 miles, and the defending champ, Joar Leifseth Ulsom, is not far behind. We also talk to some former champs about how they're in the middle of the pack and running a totally different kind of race. Plus: There's no sea ice! But there is Snack Attack with Ben and Zach!

A panel of race officials handed down a two-hour penalty for the infraction, which will be added to Seavey’s mandatory 24-hour rest.

Martin Buser has regained the lead in the 2013 Iditarod. After just under five hours of rest at the checkpoint, Buser left Iditarod at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday to begin a 55-mile jaunt to Shageluk.

The 2015 Iditarod winner will take home the race’s biggest payday ever — $70,000.

Mackey’s 21st place finish in this year’s race will be vacated after the positive test from a sample collected in White Mountain, the Iditarod statement says. Mackey finished the race, his 16th Iditarod, in Nome on March 19.

Dallas Seavey is the winner of the 2015 Iditarod. This is his third win in four years. The 27-year old musher says he’s not the only young member of his team. Many of his dogs are only three years old. Some sled dogs can race beyond the age of eight. Seavey says his team has a long future of competitive mushing ahead.

As the race transitions from big mountains and technical terrain into the heart of Alaska’s Interior, mushers are watching their teams come into race form.

Monday morning saw a huge lead change in the 2019 Iditarod, as the team of Girdwood musher Nicolas Petit stalled on the coast, allowing Bethel’s Pete Kaiser to move into first place. At least three others have also passed Petit.

The City of Nome will not be hosting any race-related festivities due to concerns about the coronavirus.

Things get pretty technical for Iditarod mushers heading out of the Rainy Pass checkpoint and into the Dalzell Gorge before Rohn and Nikolai. Plus, we hear from animal-rights activist and documentary filmmaker Fern Levitt, and we get four-time Iditarod Jeff King's take on criticism of dog mushing.