Iditarod

Iditarod musher Matthew Failor is excited that his leader Mach 10 has picked up a new skill: the art of the trot.

Iditarod mushers are making decisions about where to stop for their mandatory 24-hour rests, some opting to take that break earlier than planned, as the teams continue to contend with warm weather. The village of Nikolai is also fully open to visitors for the first time in three years of COVID-19 restrictions, and that's where some mushers were dealing with busted sleds and their own bruised bodies. In this episode, we also get into how the race shapes up after those 24-hour layovers and how the weather is expected to change for the cooler. Plus, we have a speedy Dog of the Day -- Matt Failor's Mach 10 -- who's learning to slow down, plus a listener question, a musher answer and a follow-up to yesterday's question about adopting retired sled dogs.

Gregg Vitello was the last musher into Nikolai. He's had his fair share of troubles on the trail.

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.

Hunter Keefe’s dog Senior brings years of Iditarod experience to his musher’s rookie run.

After an incident last year in which a dog escaped, officials are trying to attach tracking collars to all dogs left behind at checkpoints.

Space could be short for visitors to the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race's finish in Nome.

From sweet and sour chicken to dried mangoes, there’s a variety of food in mushers’ vacuum-sealed bags.

In this episode, we hear from Iditarod mushers in the midst of their required 24-hour layovers and from our current Red Lantern musher. We also have a chat with a former top 10 musher who’s returning to the race and running a team of mostly rookie dogs, plus a look at the Iditarod's new pilot program for tracking dropped dogs. And as always we have our Dog of the Day -- not a new dog but a dog who got a new name -- and a listener question with answers from several mushers this time. (Hint: This one might make you hungry).

The only things that disrupted the peace: mushers snoring.

Iditarod contenders are recalibrating their race strategies as the trail pushes through its most remote stretches.

His award included a five-course gourmet meal prepared by the executive chef at Marx Bros. Cafe, Jack Amon.

Jason Mackey got his lead dog Covid from his brother Lance, who died in September.

Iditarod teams are passing through the village checkpoint of Anvik and onto the Yukon River.  We have that, as well as stories from earlier on the trail about how mushers were setting their teams up for these runs earlier in the checkpoint of Iditarod and about the tiny village of Takotna reopening as an Iditarod checkpoint this year, after closing down due to COVID. Then there’ll be an update from Jason Mackey about carrying his brother Lance Mackey’s ashes along the trail, a Mackey Dog of the Day named COVID and a listener question about what the mushers are listening to, if they’re listening to anything at all, aside from, you know, dog feet and sled runners.

Cold overnight temperatures froze the softened trail into a bobsled track.

The community of about 140 people is roughly halfway into the race.

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.

Sass said he had been sick the entire race with a bad cold and also had three cracked teeth.

Eddie Burke Jr.’s 5-year-old leader already has an impressive racing resume, but it’s only his first Iditarod.

Jason Mackey says he knows that the Iditarod trail was home for his brother.