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 championship. This is our morning Iditarod report, it has some different theme music, but it’ll set things up for you this morning.

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 for our Dog of the Day 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.