Official Links
Of course, we should probably start with the official resources given to us by the race itself. The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race's website has blogs by several volunteers/staff throughout the race (I miss Sebastian Schnuelle and Joe Runyan's insights). You can find info on race rules, musher profiles, the history of the race. It's a good resource for Iditarod. They also have a lot of ways to give money to the race with their online store, donation buttons, and ITC Memberships. Don't forget their Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, too.
Iditarod Insider is the official subscription for the GPS tracker as well as live feeds and other video interviews. While they do have a free option, you don't get much with it. Unlike other races, the GPS is behind a pay wall. They do plan to live stream the start FREE to all, however. The feeds and videos are cohosted by Greg Heister (the brains of the Insider) and Bruce Lee (a former Iditarod musher who knows his stuff). They have a "proven formula" on how to do it and while they do tend to focus on the front runners, this is really the only game in town especially in a year when they aren't allowing media to be in checkpoints or have access to the teams during the race.
Alaska's News Source is the official media outlet for Iditarod again this year. KTUU and KTVA merged recently so there's a lot of coverage hopefully to glean. They also have a streaming channel via Viut it with a dedicated channel just for their Iditarod coverage. I assume it will just be the stories they share during their sports segments in their regular news programing, but it's still a great source. They also have Facebook and Twitter.
QrillPet is once again broadcasting the race. The QPAWS project (that "world series"/"grand prix" of mushing that began last year) was curtailed this year as the European races were canceled, but QPAWS is alive and well at the Iditarod. 2020's Iditarod Champion Thomas Waerner will be on deck to give his commentary (I mean, Dallas can't race and commentate... though, knowing Dallas he probably COULD). Their live feeds and GPS work outside of North America, but for those of us in the US and Canada we have to use Insider. You can view the daily updates free on their YouTube channel.
Other News Sources
With the Iditarod closing the trail down from most media personnel as a way to mitigate the danger of spreading Covid-19 (mmhmm) there will be a different look to how the race is covered by the rest of Alaska's media, but they still plan to do their best.
Anchorage Daily News just got word they would be allowed to have one reporter on the trail, so expect some of their excellent coverage as always via their articles as well as reporting from their Iditarod dedicated Twitter account.
The Iditapod will be back with daily coverage of the race, though without their tails from the trail, still the team will no doubt give it their all. This podcast is one of the best ones out there following the race and you definitely want to give it a listen. You can follow the hosts of the podcast on twitter as well. Casey Grove and Tegan Hanlon.
Another podcast is Dog Works Radio's Iditarod coverage. Dog Works Radio is run by musher and dog trainer Robert Forto. He and Alex Stein have, for the last ten years, done a special podcast daily during Iditarod following the race. This year, your's truly, is "guest hosting" because Alex begged... kinda. Anyway, take a listen to it. Please ignore my rambling.
Social Media & Blogs
For Twitter, I'd offer the advice of just be careful when reading any tags. During Iditarod the Animal Rights "activists" (I use that term so very loosely) really attack the race, the fans, and the mushers hard. It's their one way to boost revenue for themselves in the guise of "saving the sled dogs". So if you don't like watching people make complete fools of themselves while distorting the truth, you may want to just stick with twitter handles you recognize and trust. But if you want to follow the Iditarod Hashtags I'd suggest #Iditarod2021 as the safest option. The #Iditarod hashtag is basically PETA and their ilk (so I won't link it here for that reason).
Some top twitter handles to follow during Iditarod (not related to the ones listed above) are:
Danny Seavey - excellent "insider" knowledge, is fairly good at responding, he's come a long way in the three-ish years he's been back on that particular platform.
Alex Stein - one half of the Dog Works Radio Iditarod coverage team, Alex did a documentary on the race a few years back. Definitely give my friend a follow.
Toni Reitter - okay, shameless plug... but, seriously, I'm updating there constantly during races.
Zachary Hughes - former co-host of the Iditapod podcast, Zach has joined up with the ADN to report live from the trail. Due to bubbles and rules he'll be based in McGrath (one of the only places on the trail that has a lot of tent space, I guess). Definitely follow him!
Jeff Schultz - while not the *official* Official Photographer these days and has said he will not be out on the trail this year, I refuse to not link to the all time greatest sled dog photog. Jeff still plans to work on his Faces of Iditarod project (I was a subject last year, a total honor) and I'm sure will share some of his photos from races past.
On facebook you'll want to follow:
Danny Seavey - if you've followed the race at all over the last 10 years or so, you know Danny weaves a good tale and explains a lot of what you're watching. No doubt we'll see his blogging skills on facebook again this year (and heaven help him if he ditches us).
Mushing Tech - while they're more apt to follow other races, they still give a lot of insight to the sport and can definitely help you work the math of what GPS trackers are telling you.
Alaska Mushing News - they basically do what I do on twitter - share anything and everything musher. It's a group so there's a lot of info shared all the time.
There are other pages that I'm sure tickle people's fancy, but these are the two I use most (during the full race season).
So there's a quick list of links that will help you follow along with this year's race. And remember you can always find updates on this blog, too! Did I miss an important link (always possible)? Comment below with suggestions for addition.
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