Posts by Davis Hovey

The Iditarod has a new race champion: Norwegian Thomas Waerner arrived under the Burled Arch in Nome at 12:37 Wednesday morning to claim his first win. He arrived with a team of 10 dogs with tails up, looking alert, and continuing to leap in harness even after arriving. Waerner’s leaders for the majority of the…

The first musher, Thomas Waerner of Norway, arrived into White Mountain early this morning. He has about a five-hour lead on the next team in this year’s Iditarod sled dog race. If Waerner maintains his lead, this would be his first Iditarod victory in only his second running of the race. He’s expected to arrive…

Jeff Deeter from Fairbanks was one of about ten Iditarod mushers who chose to spend 24-hours in McGrath. For his team, circumstances necessitated the early stop because his dogs would not eat the food Deeter was giving to them. The veteran musher was debating even continuing this year’s race, but by the time his 24-hour…

Jessie Royer was the first musher to reach the Yukon River portion of the 2020 Iditarod trail. She checked into Ruby this morning under pale moonlight at 6:37am. Royer arrived with a full team, however one of her dogs was being carried in the sled. According to one of the race veterinarians, her dog K-dog…

All of the 2020 Iditarod teams are unique, but this year both Sean Underwood, a rookie, and Tim Pappas, a veteran, have the same opportunity to run what would be considered other mushers’ dogs. KNOM’s Davis Hovey spoke with these two mushers about their insights into the four-legged animals they’re traveling behind. On a sunny,…

McGrath is certainly not as popular as Takotna when it comes to choosing a checkpoint for a 24-hour layover. The majority of the 2020 Iditarod mushers blew through McGrath in favor of Takotna, Ophir, and some even pushed onto Cripple before stopping. Wade Marrs, looking for a fourth top ten finish, was the fourth musher…

North of the Alaska Range, along the Iditarod trail, temperatures dropped significantly below zero on Tuesday. As most mushers were resting during the heat of the day and running in the colder weather, a few leaders started to emerge from the race pack of 56 mushers. Back-to-back Yukon Quest champion Brent Sass has returned to…

33 teams made it into the Rainy Pass checkpoint before 7pm Monday night. KNOM trail reporter, Davis Hovey, reports from Rainy Pass: In spite of earlier trail reports indicating the deep snow would slow teams down, some mushers made adjustments to maintain their dogs’ health and speed. Mille Porsild of Denmark said in Rainy Pass…

The 2020 Iditarod Sled Dog Race started over the weekend. 57 mushers and roughly 800 sled dogs took off from frozen Willow Lake and are beginning the long trek toward the Alaska Range this morning. According to mushers at the Ceremonial Start in downtown Anchorage, the state’s powerful winter this year is expected to make…