Iditapod

This bonus Iditapod episode features the full recording of a press conference with 2023 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Champion Ryan Redington, right after he and his dogs crossed the finish line in Nome on Tuesday, March 14. This was recorded by Alaska Public Media's Lex Treinen, and you’ll hear him and some other reporters asking Redington questions about all different parts of the race.

Alaska Native mushers took the podium in the 2023 Iditarod, with the Knik Kid, Ryan Redington, winning his first championship and Bethel's Pete Kaiser and Aniak's Richie Diehl mushing into second and third place. The race's top 10 were all into Nome by Wednesday morning, and we have an update on Rookie of the Year honors, as well as three Dogs of the Day, two listener questions and a story about collecting dog pee. Also: This'll do it for Season 7 of the Iditapod. Thanks for coming along with us on this thousand-mile journey!

The 40-year-old Ryan Redington has won his first Iditarod and the first championship for the Redington family, on his 16th try (and after six previous scratches). "I've just been on pins and needles," said his mom, Barb, at the finish line. We'll hear Redington's finish itself in this episode, and from Alaska Public Media's Lex Treinen about the finish and how Redington arrived there first. The dog friends that did the leading into Nome -- Sven and Ghost -- are our obvious picks for Dogs of the Day. And we have a listener question about dog-human friends, with a fun answer from a friendly musher.

Ryan Redington claimed his first Iditarod championship a little after noon Tuesday with six dogs in harness and an official race time of 8 days, 21 hours, 12 minutes and 58 seconds. We have a whole bunch more coverage of Redington’s finish and the rest of the race at alaskapublic.org, and we’re still working on a full episode of the Iditapod. But, for now, we’re going to go to Nome and the raw, live radio coverage from our partners at KNOM radio. Here’s KNOM’s Davis Hovey with the live call from the finish line.

We have a quick bonus episode here for you, as Ryan Redington is on the home stretch to Nome, looking like he's going to claim his first Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race championship. This is our morning Iditarod report, it has some different theme music, but it’ll set things up for the finish.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Iditarod veteran and frequent top 10 finisher Jessie Royer talks to Alaska Public Media's Lex Treinen in Takotna.

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).

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.

Iditarod teams are contending with warm weather in the thousand-mile race, many choosing to run in the cool of night as much as possible. We'll talk about that in this episode, plus a little about what other sports some mushers have participated in outside of mushing. We have another Dog of the Day -- this time, a trusty leader named JoAnna -- and, as always, a listener question.

Iditarod sled dog teams are into the first 200 miles of trail, after the race clock started ticking Sunday. Mushers are pacing their dogs and there's a lot of leapfrogging going on out there, as they follow their own run-rest schedules. In this episode, we have a look at the competitiveness of the small field, and we have our Dog of the Day -- a big boy named Boomer -- as well as a listener question about day jobs, for those who do not list their fulltime occupation as "dog musher."

In this extended, pre-Iditarod interview, reigning Iditarod and Yukon Quest 550 champion Brent Sass talks to Iditapod reporter Lex Treinen about Sass's hectic life at his homestead north of Fairbanks, in Eureka, about his newfound confidence going into this year’s Iditarod and his philosophy about dog mushing.

Iditarod mushers took their sled dog teams on an untimed, celebratory fun run from downtown Anchorage on the city’s trails, with hundreds of fans cheering along the way. We hear from mushers and fans – maybe the pitter patter of little dog feet – as well as a joyful bride, a grumpy bear, a curious moose (or three), a former Miss Alaska and her mom, who had a fox on her head, and more!

That's right, it's Iditarod time, and we're back with another season of Iditapod. In the first episode of our seventh season, host Casey Grove and trail reporters Lex Treinen and Ben Matheson discuss the smallest field in race history and how a quarter of the mushers in the 2023 Iditarod are rookies. We also recap last year's race, talk about the legacy of the late four-time champion Lance Mackey and we even have a Dog of the Day, a spunky little leader named Dusty.

Veteran Iditarod musher Aaron Burmeister talked to Alaska Public Media’s Jeff Chen at the Nome radio station, KNOM, roughly a day after Burmeister finished his 21st Iditarod. Burmeister talks about stepping away from the Iditarod, about how his race went this year, and how much dog mushing has changed over the many years he’s been a competitive musher.

In this hour-long interview, we hear more from 2022 Iditarod champion Brent Sass about how he’s forged a unique bond with his dog team, how he draws inspiration from his idols like Susan Butcher, and how his life in his remote homestead has made him the musher he is. Alaska Public Media’s Lex Treinen sat down with Sass, along with a group of other reporters, and Sass’s dad Mark at the Nome Nugget newspaper in downtown Nome.

Since the Iditapod left off, after Brent Sass's epic first Iditarod victory, teams have continued to arrive in Nome, including a fun race for 3rd and 4th place, two Yukon-Kuskokwim mushers in 5th and 6th, an impressive 7th place finish for a second-year musher and a Nome local coming home to finish in 8th before stepping away. We're also going to step away, but not before we answer another listener question and bring you one last Dog of the Day.