News
Nikolai to Ophir accurately describes the position of teams on the trail – EXCEPT, Dallas Seavey has departed Ophir for Cripple and is resting out of Ophir. Maybe the extra/unplanned rest his dogs got while he dealt with the previously mentioned moose 14 miles beyond Skwentna set him up for a longer run to his …
It’s mid-afternoon on Tuesday. While Insiders Greg Heister and Bruce Lee gave an update from Nikolai, they both agreed that the champion for 2024 would likely come from the group of 12 mushers that have reached Nikolai at this time. Statistics from past races support that statement. Time will tell but I did take a …
As the first musher to arrive in Nikolai, Mille Porsild received the Alaska Air Transit Spirit of Iditarod Award. Mille, wearing bib #12 arrived in Nikolai at 09:09 on Tuesday March 5th with 14 dogs in harness. Mille received beaver fur musher’s mitts with beadwork on moose hide (handmade by Loretta Maillelle of McGrath), a …
The day of the 2024 Iditarod Restart was cloudy, mid-teen temperatures with little to no wind as evidenced by the flags atop the start banner. Mushers and dogs couldn’t ask for much better conditions. Veteran Anna Berington, wearing Bib #2, led the field of 38 mushers out on the trail for the fifty-second running of …
Leaving Shageluk and mushing on toward Anvik, the teams will have fewer miles to go than they have covered. Anvik (AN-vik) is the first checkpoint of the southern route on the famous Yukon River. No one would be so bold as to say that it’s downhill to Nome from Shageluk because the Yukon River and …
Shageluk is almost 160 miles from Takotna, the last village populated with humans. Since departing Takotna, the teams have traveled through the ghost towns of Ophir and Iditarod. Handler didn’t actually visit Shageluk as the 2006 Teacher on the Trail because ’06 was an even year so the teams followed the northern route. It was …
Ramey Smyth comes from a storied mushing background. Ramey’s mother, celebrated harness maker Lolly Medley, was the second woman to ever finish the race and his father, Bud Smyth has finished Iditarod five times. Lolly Medley began presenting a Golden Harness award to the outstanding lead dog of the race. Since her death, the City …
You know you’re a serious Iditarod fan if the weather app on your phone contains locations along the Iditarod Trail – Willow, Skwentna, Nicolai, McGrath and Iditarod. You’ve seriously got the bug if you check the weather where the mushers are before you check your own weather! The temperature this morning under a clear sky …
Cindy Abbott, Iditarod’s 2015 Red Lantern Recipient, spoke to the teachers about her experiences on the trail. Abbott also shared basic race information to give the teacher’s a better understanding of the Iditarod as they use the Last Great Race as a theme for education in their classrooms. Abbott is the only woman to have …
Folks in Nome headed to the Nome Recreation Center for the Iditarod Finisher’s Banquet on a calm, sunny, warm afternoon. All the mushers were off the trail. The Widow’s Lamp was extinguished. The banquet would put Iditarod XLIV in the history books. Chefs from the Lakefront Alaska Hotel of Anchorage prepared a meal that was …
