Iditapod

Instead of hiding in our cozy little radio studio at Alaska Public Media or out on the sparsely populated Iditarod Trail, we took the Iditapod to the Beartooth Theatrepub in Anchorage on Monday, March 2 for a live, onstage event, where about 300 people joined reporters Zachariah Hughes, Tegan Hanlon and Casey Grove for a wide-ranging discussion with Iditarod mushers Jessica Klejka, Matthew Failor and Jeff King.

We laughed, we didn’t cry somehow, and we did our best to explain some of the intricacies of dog mushing.

Also, an update: Shortly after this recording, Jeff King was rushed to a hospital to undergo emergency surgery that likely saved his life. He will not be racing in this year's Iditarod. We will have a more complete story about that soon here on the Iditapod.

Three-time Yukon Quest champion dog musher Brent Sass is headed back to Alaska’s other thousand mile sled dog race, the Iditarod, after some trial and tribulation. Sass is originally from Minnesota, and lived in Fairbanks in the Goldstream Valley before moving a little farther north to Joe Bush Creek near Manly Hot Springs. Sass joined us from Fairbanks, where he was getting ready before heading south for the Iditarod ceremonial start in Anchorage.

... and we're back! Kicking off the 2020 Iditapod, host Casey Grove and Alaska Public Media trail reporter Zachariah Hughes discuss the 2019 running of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, as well as the 2020 Copper Basin 300 (briefly) and the Kuskokwim 300 (at length). And Casey talks to three-time Yukon Quest champion Brent Sass about his recent victory in that other thousand-mile sled dog race and his impending return to the Iditarod.

In this (probably) final bonus episode for Season 3 of the Iditapod, Girdwood's Nicolas Petit reflects on what happened that caused his dog team to stop between Shaktoolik and Koyuk and how he decided to scratch from the 2019 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Thanks to Mark Thiessen at the Associated Press for sharing this interview with us.

The 2019 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is over, and we left off in our last episode with a lot of loose ends. So here's to tying up loose ends, maybe a minor correction and hoisting the Red Lantern and other awards we failed to mention earlier! Also: We play "Can't Let It Go," because, frankly, we can't get over -- or done with -- the Iditapod. But we have to! See you next year!

It happened, because Paige Drobny made it happen: The top 10 of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race includes three women for the first time ever. Fans of Drobny, Aliy Zirkle and Jessie Royer are ecstatic, as are some Bethel residents who were cheering on 2019 Iditarod champion Pete Kaiser. We hear from them in this episode, plus a lightning round of questions and... a couple special guests!

Like it is affecting a lot of things in the north, our warming climate is affecting the Last Great Race. There are some nuances, however, and to suss it all out, we brought in our resident climatologist, Brian Brettschneider with the University of Alaska Fairbanks, who we hear from regularly on a segment on Alaska Public Media called Ask a Climatologist. Brettschneider says mushers and others on Alaska's western coast are seeing open water because a confluence of factors has caused historic low sea ice in the Bering Sea this spring.

That’s right: Iditarod has a new champion. And it’s really looking like we’re going to have three women in the top 10 for the first time in 47 years for the Last Great Race. As for the pride and swelling hearts of Bethel, the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, maybe all of Western Alaska, Peter Kaiser and eight dogs crossed under the Burled Arch in Nome at 3:39 a.m. Alaska time Wednesday trailed only 12 minutes later by the 2018 champ, Joar Leifseth Ulsom.

After the excitement of the race finish, Pete Kaiser adjourned to the nearby Mini Convention Center for a brief question-answer session with reporters. The first half of the discussion was moderated by Andy Angstman, a race official and longtime friend of Kaiser’s from Bethel. You’ll hear a few questions from Angstman before it was opened up to reporters, all in front of several dozen fans and supporters there in spite of the early hour.

A new Iditarod champion has been crowned. Bethel musher Pete Kaiser’s team of 8 dogs crossed under the Burled Arch in Nome at 3:39 a.m. Wednesday, March 13, 2019. A boisterous crowd of friends and family from the Bethel area traveled to Nome to celebrate Kaiser’s victory. The 31-year-old wins $50,000 and a new truck. It’s a career highlight for Kaiser, who has raced the iditarod each year since 2010. On three separate occasions he’s placed as high as 5th, but this is his first win. His run took 9 days 12 hours and 39 minutes.