Iditapod

Iditapod is back for the 50th running of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Host Casey Grove and fellow Alaska Public Media reporters Tegan Hanlon, Lex Treinen and Jeff Chen discuss last year's pandemic-altered Iditarod, some of the mid-distance sled dog races this season, as well as COVID-19 protocols (and already a scratch/switcheroo), scary moose encounters and the heartwarming story of an unlikely Iditarod dog.

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.

On the eve of Iditarod 2020, we discuss four-time champion Jeff King dropping out due to a medical emergency, how his rookie handler is taking King's top-notch team, and how heavy snow along the Iditarod Trail (a trench in places) will surely affect this year's race. Host Casey Grove is joined in the studio by Alaska Public Media reporters Tegan Hanlon and Zachariah Hughes.

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.

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.