Iditarod

Ryan Redington’s closest competitors are Pete Kaiser and Richie Diehl

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.

It’s a close race between Ryan Redington, Richie Diehl and Pete Kaiser.

From country music to motivational books to nothing at all.

Mike Williams Jr. said he put Viper in lead on a whim earlier this year. The 2-year-old has been leading the charge ever since.

Eddie Burke Jr. said he dozed off on his sled along the Yukon River and lost his team 18 miles from the nearest checkpoint. His closest competitor for rookie of the year gave him a lift.

In this extended interview, we hear more from John Suter, an Iditarod finisher who famously had a team that included poodles. Suter ran the Iditarod with poodles in 1988, '89, '90 and '91, finishing each year ahead of other teams racing more traditional sled dogs.

Ryan Redington arrived in Unalakleet early Sunday after a monster run from Kaltag to the coast, putting more distance between him and his rivals.

Riley Dyche described 5-year-old Elway as fearless, smart and strong.

Eddie Burke Jr. and Hunter Keefe will need to face the windy Bering Sea coast before final placings get within reach.

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

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

Reigning Iditarod champion Brent Sass has scratched from this year’s race, due to what race officials described as “periodontal health” issues. So 31 teams remained in the race Saturday, and in this episode we hear from the chase pack-turned lead pack about how they were feeling about heading up the Yukon River, plus more from the top rookies in this year’s race. We have a powerhouse Dog of the Day with a funny, uh, pungent name, and a listener question about sled dog breeds that led us to the famous poodle musher.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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