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Iditapod: A new Norwegian champ, and the runner-up reflects

Alaska Public Media | By Casey Grove
Published March 14, 2018 at 2:46 PM AKDT
A Norwegian contingent in Takotna helps park dogs at the checkpoint beneath a welcoming banner. (Zachariah Hughes/Alaska Public Media photo)
A Norwegian contingent in Takotna helps park dogs at the checkpoint beneath a welcoming banner. (Zachariah Hughes/Alaska Public Media photo)

The Iditarod has crowned a new Norwegian champion: Joar Leifseth Ulsom. The 31-year-old pulled under Nome’s Burled Arch at 3 a.m. Wednesday with eight dogs in harness to claim his first championship, taking the win in Iditarod 46. Ulsom is the first Norwegian musher to win the thousand-mile sled dog race since Robert Sørlie in 2005. Girdwood's Nicolas Petit arrived a little over two hours later, and he spoke to reporters about how his race went and where it went wrong.
Iditapod
Casey Grove
Casey Grove is host of Alaska News Nightly, a general assignment reporter and an editor at Alaska Public Media. Reach him at cgrove@alaskapublic.org.
See stories by Casey Grove