musher – KNOM Radio Mission

Emily Maxwell's dog team pulls her along a snowy trail.

Emily Maxwell ran her first Iditarod this March. She stopped by the KNOM studios to share stories from the Iditarod trail — and how she got there.

There was still pale orange light in the western sky as the French-born Girdwood musher rode into Kotzebue at 12:08 Sunday morning. He had seven energetic dogs in harness.

Handmade musher signs plaster the walls of the Ambler checkpoint building (Photo: Gabe Colombo, KNOM)

People like Lolo Johnson, who’s been a race cook in Ambler for 12 years, make the busy checkpoint run smoothly as mushers come and go and come again.

Ellen King in Ambler on the 2018 Kobuk 440 trail (Photo: Zoe Grueskin, KNOM)

Veteran Tony Browning is the musher with the most Kobuk 440s under his belt, while relative newbie Ellen King is only racing her second.

Nicolas Petit after pulling into the Ambler checkpoint for the second time (Photo: Gabe Colombo, KNOM)

Petit checked in to Ambler for the second time after completing the turnaround leg to Kobuk and back in a swift 7 hours. Holmes says he “way too hard, way too fast” at the beginning.

A dog team and musher race out of the finish chute, with people cheering them on

Moore claims his third Yukon Quest win after finishing first in 2013 and 2014. Third-place finisher Laura Neese arrived into the Whitehorse finish just before 5:00 PST this afternoon.

Two-time Quest champion Allen Moore checked into Braeburn at 11:07 Pacific Standard Time this morning, for the required 8-hour layover. He’s now just 100 miles from the Whitehorse finish.

Campeau called for help yesterday afternoon about 45 miles outside of Eagle. His wife, Quest rookie Jennifer Campeau, scratched early this afternoon.

Kotzebue musher Katherine Keith scratched from the Yukon Quest after a broken wrist. But she says the setback should not affect her ability to run the Iditarod next month.

Sled dogs stand at rest on a snowy street.

The Iditarod Trail Committee has announced a revision to its canine drug use policy. The change comes after several dogs in a single musher’s team tested positive for a prohibited substance during the 2017 race.