Iditapod

When it comes to concern about the coronavirus, the Iditarod is no exception. In Nome, the city council is considering calling off Iditarod festivities, and we’re also hearing about a big announcement coming from the Iditarod itself, though we’ve been told by someone close to the race that they are not going to be canceling the rest of Iditarod altogether. Meantime, we have a more positive update about Jeff King's health status, a race update, a story about a volunteer passing time tinkering on an old chainsaw, a listener question about who's the best dog whisperer and another dog profile, this one about Juke, in Karin Hendrickson's team.

The Iditarod can be a cathartic experience, with all those good dogs, bad dogs, #uglydogs... In this episode we catch up on the race and discuss how it's nearly impossible to analyze who's really in the lead as mushers start to take their mandatory 24-hour layovers at different checkpoints. Alaska Public Media's Tegan Hanlon has a story about Jeff King's substitute Sean Underwood, AKPM's Zach Hughes and Ben Matheson take in the Blood Moon in Takotna, we have a somewhat surprising answer to a listener question, and Brent Sass talks about his lead dog, Jeep.

Alaska Public Media's Tegan Hanlon interviews Sean Underwood. The 28-year-old musher found out four days before the start of the 2020 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race that he'd be competing in the event. Long-time musher and four-time Iditarod champion Jeff King had to drop out of the race at the very last minute, and tapped Sean, one of his dog handlers, to fill in. And, to be clear, it wasn’t just filling in for a 1,000-mile sled dog race, but also for some of the events leading up to it. We sat down with Sean in a restaurant at an Anchorage hotel last Friday, right before a meet and greet that he was suddenly headlining with three-time Iditarod champion Mitch Seavey. We talked about how Sean got into sled dog racing and the exact moment when he found out that he’d be launched into this year’s Iditarod.

With plenty of snow on the Iditarod Trail this year, some of the more technical runs have not been as difficult as years past. But the Happy River steps and the Dalzell Gorge are always a challenge, and Alaska Public Media's Tegan Hanlon joins Iditapod host Casey Grove to discuss why we call both of those sections "technical." Also in today's episode, reports from KNOM's Davis Hovey and Alaska Public Media's Zachariah Hughes in Rainy Pass, as well as KNOM's Ben Matheson on the newly rejuvenated roadhouse in McGrath.

It’s Monday, and Iditarod sled dog teams are heading into their second full day of racing after the official start yesterday in Willow. From there they mushed west to the Yentna checkpoint about 50 miles into the race, on to Skwentna at about 80 miles, and the front-of-the-pack teams are already heading up and up and up into the Alaska Range, toward the mountainous checkpoint of Rainy Pass. We hear about the rookies in the race, a clip from Quince Mountain on what it's like to be the first openly trans Iditarod competitor, and Aliy Zirkle tells us about one of her leaders, Sparky.

Happy Monday. Today, we have an extended interview with friend of the Iditapod, Quince Mountain, who’s out there on the Iditarod Trail right now. Quince came in for a rather lengthy interview last week. We talked about his past and present, including Quince’s experiences being transgender. As far as we know, he’s the first openly trans person in the Iditarod. We talked about how, in an event that sees all genders competing against each other and not separated into categories, it doesn’t mean that much to the race itself, but that, as Quince says, means a lot to some people in terms of inspiration. We also talked about the origin of the Ugly Dogs, that’s a Twitter hashtag and kind of a group of fans who follow Quince and his wife Blair Braverman, who finished the Iditarod last year. And we talked a little about Quince’s expectations for his race, and about how Quince was on the reality TV show Naked and Afraid.

The 2020 Iditarod began in earnest Sunday with the official restart in Willow, where, to the surprise of many, musher John Schandelmeier replaced his wife, Zoya Denure, who reportedly had some last-second health issues. What wasn't a surprise, at least for this winter, was more snow! We have a report on that from Danny Seavey, as well as a dog profile, a listener question and more. Host Casey Grove is joined by Alaska Public Media's Tegan Hanlon.

The Iditapodders took to the streets of downtown Anchorage, and the trails of midtown Anchorage, for the ceremonial start of the 2020 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Alaska Public Media reporters Zachariah Hughes and Tegan Hanlon joined Iditapod host Casey Grove in talking to mushers, but then Casey hopped on a sled with Quince Mountain, riding the entire 11-mile course. AKPM reporter Liz Ruskin also joined in with an audio postcard from the trail-side parties.

On the eve of Iditarod 2020, we discuss four-time champion Jeff King dropping out due to a medical emergency, how his rookie handler is taking King's top-notch team, and how heavy snow along the Iditarod Trail (a trench in places) will surely affect this year's race. Host Casey Grove is joined in the studio by Alaska Public Media reporters Tegan Hanlon and Zachariah Hughes.

This year's Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race will be the first for its new CEO Rob Urbach, who took over in July.

In recent years, the Iditarod has struggled with sponsors pulling out, a so-called "dog-doping" scandal and accusations that its board of directors had conflicts of interest. In the meantime, the board has been overhauled and expanded, and there have been some new race rules put in place, as the Iditarod grapples with various issues and increased scrutiny.

Urbach came to the Iditarod after six years as CEO of USA Triathlon and, previously, had worked in sports marketing and management.

Now at its helm, Urbach says he first became a fan of the Iditarod about 20 years ago.