Ryan Redington Receives the Rain Air Gold Coast Award (Photo: David Poyzer)

Ryan Redington is the first musher to reach the Gold Coast.  He made the 85 mile run from Kaltag in 10 hours and 5 minutes with an average speed of 8.43 miles an hour.  Redington took regular breaks to snack his dogs.  Peter Kaiser and Richie Diehl who departed Kaltag within 40 minutes of Redington, set the hook and camped about 20 miles outside of Unalakleet.  Ryan is now resting in Unalakleet, planning to stay 4 hours.

Ryan is the recipient of the Ryan Air Gold Coast Award.  Ryan Air was founded in Unalakleet to serve the people who live along the Bering Sea coast and throughout western Alaska.  Mushing has long been a way of life for the Ryan Air family.  The company’s founder carried mail by dog team between Unalakleet and Kaltag in the early 1900’s. 

The Gold Coast Award was first presented in 1987.  Ryan Air took over the award in 2019.  Redington received one ounce of gold nuggets valued at over $1,500 which mined in the Bering Straits region along with a hand carved ivory dog team dog team mounted on whale bone.  The award was presented by Paul “Be Bucks” Ivanoff III.  Ryan said that Unalakleet was in his blood as his mother Barbara (Ryan) Redington was born there.  Being the first to the Gold Coast and receiving the Ryan award was very special to him.

Dog Team Carved From Ivory Mounted on Whale Bone (Photo: David Poyzer)

In four of the last ten years, the musher to arrive on the Bering Sea Coast first has also been first to file under the burled arch in Nome.  By no means is this a guarantee but it has a higher correlation than being first to McGrath, the Yukon or Kaltag.

This is the first time in fifteen years that Ryan has sent a lighter sled to Unalakleet.  He said he has the tendency to pack heavy but with this dog team, he knew he wanted a lighter sled for the coast.  Ryan is also aware of Kaiser and Diehl being close behind.  He said they are the best there is at hunting people down and overtaking them.  In all of the races run by Redingtons, Ryan is the first to earn the Gold Coast Award.

Well over half of the current field is either in Kaltag resting or on the portage trail heading to Unalakleet.  Unalakleet is prepared for a great influx of mushers on Sunday.  The route between Kaltag and Unalakleet is an old portage trail that connected Unalakleet on the Bering Sea Coast to Kaltag on the Yukon River.  Russian fur traders and Athabascan hunters and trappers used the trail to meet up and exchange furs and handmade goods from the interior for Russian merchandise.

The portage trail has two safety cabins often used by mushers during the 85 mile run.  The Tripod flats cabin is located about 35 miles inland from Kaltag.  The Old Woman cabin is located about 35 miles inland from the Bering Sea.  Many mushers choose to stay at one of the cabins to break up the long run.  Some choose to camp twenty miles out from Unalakleet in the shelter of a forest.  That seems to be what Peter Kaiser and Richie Diehl did while Ryan went straight through. 

In other news along the trail, Brent Sass has posted on Facebook, “I’m doing okay and resting well in Unalakleet.  The dogs are in the great care of the Iditarod and making their way to Anchorage.  My amazing support crew of friends and family are working on logistics to get me and the dogs home so I can deal with my health and teeth issues ASAP.”  Best wishes go to Brent from the Iditarod Nation for a speedy recovery.

Eddie Burke, Jr. made a huge rookie mistake on the Yukon.  He fell asleep, fell off his sled and his dog team went on down the trail leaving Eddie on foot.  The driverless team arrived at the next checkpoint and was parked.  A snow machine was dispatched to go back down the trail to locate the musher.  In the meantime Hunter Keefe and Christian Turner offered Eddie rides.  He rode with each for a short distance but didn’t want to slow them down or tax their teams.  Insider caught the reunion of Eddie with his team.  He was greatly relieved they were in fine shape and commented, “They went out and had some fun without me.  I walked a long way.”  At the next checkpoint he remarked, “Sure nice coming in here on the runners.”   

At the back of the pack, Gregg Vittello of Milan, New Hampshire scratched Saturday afternoon at Iditarod checkpoint.  His decision was based on what best for his dogs.  Gregg and his team of 12 dogs are fine and will be transported off the trail by the Iditarod Air Force.  The younger Vitello, Bailey, is currently running in 26thplace out of the 30 remaining teams.