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 intrica...
Mar 04, 2020•1 hr 32 min•Season 4Ep. 2
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.
Mar 02, 2020•17 min
... 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.
Feb 28, 2020•31 min•Season 4Ep. 1
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.
Apr 09, 2019•28 min
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!
Apr 04, 2019•33 min•Season 3Ep. 17
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!
Mar 14, 2019•35 min•Season 3Ep. 16
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 ...
Mar 14, 2019•9 min
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.
Mar 13, 2019•16 min•Season 3Ep. 15
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.
Mar 13, 2019•15 min
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 ...
Mar 13, 2019•6 min
Heading into a final, mandatory, eight-hour rest in White Mountain about 40 minutes in the lead, Bethel's Peter Kaiser could be set up to win his first Iditarod in his team's 10th race. But anything can happen in that final 77 miles, and the defending champ, Joar Leifseth Ulsom, is not far behind. We also talk to some former champs about how they're in the middle of the pack and running a totally different kind of race. Plus: There's no sea ice! But there is Snack Attack with Ben and Zach!...
Mar 12, 2019•28 min•Season 3Ep. 14
This is an interview with longtime Iditarod racer and four time champ Martin Buser from Big Lake and comes to us by way of Alaska Public Media's Zachariah Hughes in Unalakleet on Monday. Buser's originally from Switzerland and his voice and exuberance for mushing are ever-present in Iditarod. But he’s getting older.
Mar 12, 2019•7 min
The team of Girdwood musher Nicolas Petit stalled on the edge of Norton Bay, allowing Bethel's Pete Kaiser to race past, as well as several others. Petit had been leading for most of the race, and Monday afternoon, it was still uncertain if he'd even finish. We hear from Petit, and we hear from Kaiser who now might be set up to win his first Iditarod. That, plus explanations of Mushergrams, Teacher on the Trail and... whatever happened to Pilot Rob?
Mar 11, 2019•20 min•Season 3Ep. 13
Welcome to some breaking news on the Iditapod. Monday morning saw a huge lead change in the 2019 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, as the team of Girdwood musher Nicolas Petit has stalled on the coast, allowing Bethel’s Pete Kaiser, the race’s current leader, and at least three others to pass him. We hear from Petit out on the sea ice, via Iditarod Insider.
Mar 11, 2019•5 min
Girdwood's Nicolas Petit stayed in the lead of the 2019 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Sunday after making a long 90ish-mile run from Kaltag to Unalakleet overnight. We hear from a couple Yukon-Kuskokwim-area rookies in this year's race, and a couple YK-area parents with kids in the Iditarod. Plus, a question about climate change and a conversation with Iditarod musher Kristin Knight Pace, who has a book out called "This Much Country."
Mar 11, 2019•21 min•Season 3Ep. 12
Iditarod and Yukon Quest musher Kristin Knight Pace joins Alaska Public Media's Casey Grove in the studio for an interview about her book, This Much Country, and what's in it, including how she survived a divorce to find her true self in Alaska, eventually mushing dogs in the toughest long-distance races in the world, and starting a family.
Mar 10, 2019•13 min
Alaska Public Media's Zachariah Hughes talks with Kaktovik musher Martin Apayauq Reitan - a rookie in the 2019 Iditarod - in Takotna about his sled, damaged much earlier in the race at the Happy River Steps.
Mar 10, 2019•3 min
Because the theme of this year's Iditapod is "Fun and Friendship," and because Alaska Public Media's Zachariah Hughes and KNOM's Ben Matheson were reunited in Unalakleet ahead of the 2019 Iditarod frontrunners reaching that checkpoint and the coast of Alaska, here's a conversation between Ben and Zach and some of their tales from the trail.
Mar 10, 2019•16 min
Mushers headed north on the Yukon River on Saturday, with the front of the pack on their way to Kaltag, where they turn west and head toward the coast of Alaska. Bethel's Pete Kaiser had advanced his team to the front, and we hear more about how he's managed that from earlier planning, as well as about sled modifications and repairs happening on the trail. Also, Alaska Public Media's Zachariah Hughes somehow works in an interview about Harry Potter books on tape with Martin Apayauq Reitan and Me...
Mar 10, 2019•22 min•Season 3Ep. 11
Ester musher Paige Drobny and her Squid Acres dogs (squids, she would say) have moved into the top 10 of the 2019 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. At least, that's where they were Friday and Saturday, the highest position the team has had in and out of these later-race checkpoints, or maybe ever! Recorded with KNOM's Ben Matheson Friday in Shageluk.
Mar 09, 2019•9 min
Front-of-the-pack 2019 Iditarod musher Jessie Royer talks to KNOM's Ben Matheson on Friday in Shageluk about having to drop a dog, what she's expecting from the trail ahead and how she feels about mushing near the front as one of the race's most competitive teams.
Mar 09, 2019•12 min
Here's a quick, couple-minute interview with Two Rivers musher Aliy Zirkle recorded Thursday in the checkpoint of Iditarod, where she was taking her 24-hour rest. KNOM's Ben Matheson asked about Zirkle's move passing other teams taking their 24s earlier to take the lead.
Mar 08, 2019•3 min
Top teams in the 2019 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race are reaching the Yukon River on Friday as the race enters its fifth day, with snow and more warm temperatures in the forecast. Girdwood's Nicolas Petit and Norwegian-by-way-of-Willow musher Joar Leifseth Ulsom have continued to leapfrog each other, with Nic winning a five-course meal in Anvik. We hear more about the different strategies as they came into focus earlier in the race and take a listener question about team positions for dogs.
Mar 08, 2019•17 min•Season 3Ep. 10
He's been running out in front of much of the 2019 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, so clearly Nic Petit is a hard musher to catch up with, but KNOM's Ben Matheson had a nice long chat with the Girdwood local and 2018 runner-up Wednesday in Ophir, where Petit took his mandatory 24-hour layover. They talked about Nic's strategy of camping out more and how the dogs are doing - including, yes, more poop talk - among other things.
Mar 08, 2019•16 min
An extended interview with Willow musher Matt Failor, with Alaska Public Media's Zachariah Hughes in Takotna. Hear more from the man who named a litter of dogs after heavy metal bands about getting more attention after winning the Kuskokwim 300, how his Iditarod is going and how he saw a snowmachiner, trying to pass him, crash along the trail.
Mar 08, 2019•8 min
Iditapod contributor Quince Mountain checks in from Winter Lake Lodge, a.k.a., thewhere a sled dog that lives at the lodge broke his chain and went for a run following Iditarod teams all the way up to Rainy Pass. Dillon's used to runs of up to 10 miles, but this was a 30-mile haul! Quince talks to lodge owner Carl Dixon and its manager, Lisa Rattan, about what they say is the real story.
Mar 07, 2019•14 min
Two Rivers musher Aliy Zirkle and all 14 of her SP Kennel dogs made it to the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race's halfway point, the Iditarod checkpoint, for her 24-hour layover. Other mushers coming off their 24s are expected through there Thursday. Earlier on their breaks, mushers shared stories of injuries, sled mishaps and wildlife encounters, as well as sled dog litter-naming conventions.
Mar 07, 2019•14 min•Season 3Ep. 9
Aniak musher Richie Diehl talks in Takotna about hitting a tree -- face first -- earlier in the race and continuing down the trail. Interview by Alaska Public Media's Zachariah Hughes on Wednesday, March 6, 2019.
Mar 07, 2019•3 min
Braver Mountain Mushing's Quince Mountain is out on the 2019 Iditarod trail trying to catch up with the mushers on a snowmachine. Due to some technical issues, he was only in Skwentna for our Wednesday phone call. That's about 80 miles into the trail, and Wednesday saw leaders into the Iditarod checkpoint, which is about 430 miles into the 1,000-mile race. But.. Quince is alive and OK, and that's the important part. We talked about the journey so far, somehow even got on the topic of dog poop (a...
Mar 07, 2019•13 min
This is an extended interview with Two Rivers musher Aliy Zirkle in McGrath, recorded Tuesday, March 5, 2019 by KNOM Radio's Ben Matheson.
Mar 06, 2019•7 min
