Race Season

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…

Iditarod mushers are closing in on Nome. Norwegian Thomas Waerner was the first to leave White Mountain at 1:35 Tuesday afternoon when he pulled the snowhook and set off on the final 77 miles to Nome. As fresh snow fell on his sleeping team, he completed his mandatory eight-hour break. Waerner now has a generous…

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…

Thomas Waener of Norway, looking to complete only his second running of this race, is also getting closer to potentially his first Iditarod victory.

Shaktoolik’s city leaders decided to close their official checkpoint for the Iditarod trail sled dog race on Friday due to concerns over the spread of COVID-19. They planned to leave the straw and drop bags for mushers at the ruins of the old village site, two miles away. But as KNOM’s Emily Hofstaedter reports, Shaktoolik…

Thomas Waerner and twelve dogs pulled into Shaktoolik around 9:30pm on Sunday evening, maintaining their lead in the 2020 Iditarod trail sled dog race. Waerner feels good about the lead he has on the other teams, he reached Shaktoolik about five hours before Jessie Royer in second position, although that is unofficial based on the…

The 2020 Iditarod has reached the Norton Sound Coast. After seven days and 700 miles of round-the-clock running, KNOM’s Ben Matheson reports that a handful of contenders are chasing a new race leader and preparing to show race fans what their teams can do. On Sunday afternoon, Norwegian musher Thomas Waerner rested his 12 dogs…

Day 7 of the 2020 Iditarod saw the first musher check into Unalakleet about five and a half hours ahead of the next team. Thomas Waerner’s sizable lead heading into the Eastern Norton Sound grew when he left the checkpoint just after 3pm, before the next musher had even arrived. KNOM’s Ben Matheson spoke with…

By the middle of the day Saturday, 17 Iditarod teams had completed their 8-hour layovers at one of the four checkpoints along the Yukon River (Ruby, Galena, Nulato, and Kaltag). Not among those were race leaders Brent Sass, Jessie Royer, and Pete Kaiser. 3rd position, Thomas Waerner of Norway, was the only musher in the…