Top ten are into Tuluksak

As of 7:10pm AKST on Saturday, the top ten are into the final checkpoint of Tuluksak and are on their final four hour mandatory rest. From Tuluksak it's roughly a fifty mile sprint to the finish line back in Bethel. There are several bunches within the top ten of teams close together. The final placement is anything but certain for just about any team.

First into Tuluksak Saturday was eight-time Kusko champion Pete Kaiser. The veteran musher arrived at 5:15pm and had the checkpoint all to themselves for just twenty minutes before Riley Dyche and his team of Dark Horse dogs charged in. Dyche is a dark horse in more ways than one, the musher chose last year to leave social media entirely and so no one really knew what to expect as there was almost nothing in the way of training reports on the musher. He ran a couple of races, but it was anyone's guess would Dyche would be doing ahead of Iditarod. Riley bought many of Brent Sass's main team last year when Sass decided to get out of dogs (in Alaska, he's been in Europe running dogs). Riley brought 8 of the Wild and Free dogs with him to the Kusko.

Fifteen minutes after Riley checked in, Cody Strathe was next into the checkpoint. The Squids ate up some time on Dyche. At 6:09pm Mike Williams Jr. made it to Tuluksak. Williams is having a fantastic race and has many fans and mushers statewide cheering him on. One of the local heroes of sorts, Mike is a favorite in any race he enters. Williams' best finish was 2nd in 2011 according to the K300 archives, and he last ran the race in 2019. Hunter Keefe rounds out the top five, coming in just eight minutes behind Willliams. 

At 6:26pm, teen phenom Emily Robinson rode into the checkpoint. Saturday afternoon Robinson crossed the 200 mile mark - the furthest she's ever raced. Sitting now at roughly 226 miles, the junior musher is now in unfamiliar territory. Last year Robinson nervously laughed when reporters asked her if she was ready for Iditarod, she mentioned that 300 miles intimidated her. The teen who didn't seem to be intimidated by Iditarod champions as she ran them down in 100 and 200 mile races was intimidated by 300 miles. Well, this weekend she took that challenge on and she's minutes from cracking the top five. The only teen, only female, and only rookie in this race looks anything but intimidated.

Lev Shvarts is ten minutes behind Robinson to hold the seventh slot. Behind Shvarts came Matt Failor, giving Shvarts a seventeen minute cushion. Sitting in 9th and 10th place are Cim Smyth and Bailey Vitello who came in at the same time. There should be some very close finishes Sunday morning.

First and fifth are separated by just over an hour. Right now Peter Kaiser has the lead, but it's not a fully comfortable one. We've seen the Kusko throw a curveball for the leaders in the final stretch (Failor's win was helped by such curveballs). The top three are not set in stone. And then there are the chase pack just waiting in the wings. Hunter Keefe will have to pull out the stops to keep Emily Robinson behind him. Several teams could easily end up leap frogging in this last sprint.

At the back, Isaac Underwood and Ebbe Pederson are both resting in Kalskag. 

Top 10

Pete Kaiser at 5:15pm - can leave at 9:15pm Saturday
Riley Dyche at 5:35pm - can leave at 9:35pm 
Cody Strathe at 5:50pm - can leave at 9:50pm
Mike Williams Jr at 6:09pm - can leave at 10:08pm
Hunter Keefe at 6:17pm - can leave at 10:16pm
Emily Robinson at 6:26pm - can leave at 10:26pm
Lev Shvarts at 6:36pm - can leave at 10:36pm
Matthew Failor at 6:53pm - can leave at 10:53pm
Cim Smyth at 7:10pm - can leave at 11:10pm
Bailey Vitello at 7:10pm - can leave at 11:10pm

With roughly fifty miles to the finish and Peter Kaiser leaving at 9:15pm Saturday, expect a finish around 2am AKST on Sunday. 

Do you think we're going to see another re-PETE? Do you think we'll see any surprise placements? Who do you think will end up winning the Red Lantern? Comment below with your thoughts!

Redington and Robinson poised for a battle for the finish

Teams have begun entering the halfway point of the 2025 Knik 200 race. Ryan Redington, grandson of Iditarod Founder Joe Redington, was first in at 5:26pm with then other teams close behind. Now the teams will take their mandatory six hour plus time differential rest before heading back down the trail to complete a second loop.

A quick look at the times has a late night/early morning "restart" that is all kinds of exciting. The leaders after doing the math look to be Ryan Redington who has just about a minute lead over reigning Knik 200 champion Emily Robinson. Redington will no doubt want to keep as much distance as possible from the teenage phenom, but as most fans know - that won't be easy.

This is starting to feel familiar. In the 2024 Knik 200 Emily Robinson made a name for herself as she ran down and passed 2022 Iditarod Champion Brent Sass just minutes before the finish. The teen went viral on social media when a video of the moment she caught Sass made the rounds, the video famously caught Sass' saying "Son of a B*****!!!" as he realized just how close to losing his lead he was. Robinson went on to dominate every race she entered last season.

This time it's 2023 Iditarod Champion Ryan Redington in the hot seat. It seems Robinson in these "grown up" races enjoys the chase, and there seems to be no intimidation on her part. Her confidence in her team and their ability is evident whenever she pulls the snowhook. If Redington wants to give the teen her first loss in quite a while, he'll have to start fast and keep that pace.

Both teams ran the loop around 6 hours and 10 minutes. Both teams are known for their speed. Emily is known for picking up the pace on the second day of a race. Ryan is known for starting strong and hoping he can gain a large enough gap that should his team start to slow he will hold onto the lead. It works for him in most mid-distance races. 

If all goes well Redington will leave at 11:52pm Saturday night, Robinson will follow one minute later at 11:53pm. Assuming they pick up the pace the finish could somewhere between 5:30am - 6am Alaska time Sunday.

Should someone falter, there are plenty of teams that could possibly take advantage. Hunter Keefe will be eight minutes behind, which will give roughly a mile between the front runners and the chase pack. But a mile can easily be crept up on. Wally Robinson will be next out three minutes behind Hunter (that'll be 11 minutes behind his daughter, the one he joked before race start that he wouldn't let her pass him, that he would push her off her sled if she tried. Dads, amirite?). Rounding out the top five is Ryan's younger brother Robert who will be five minutes behind Wally.

To keep up with all of the in and out times the Knik 200 has graciously shared their times spreadsheet. 

Catch your catnaps now, race fans, it's an early wake up call (for most of us)!

Who do you think will come out on top? Will Ryan come up with the win or is Emily going to once again kick it into gear and run away with the competition? Can Hunter overtake one or both? Comment below with your predicitions and thoughts!

And, as always, you can Buy me a slice of pizza to help keep the blog up and running. It's always appreciated but never expected.  

Mushing Social Media Round Up returns!

 It's been a while since this blog has done a "round of" of mushing news/social media posts, but it's back by popular demand (well, semi-popular, some of y'all have asked!) This will by no means be an exhaustive search of each and every kennel out there, but just a taste of what's being shared on a week to week basis (or about that). If you find something interesting, or if you're a musher/race director who wants to spread some news - contact me! We'll all work together to keep up with each other during the busy summer.

So let's take a look at what the world of Mushing Socials has been up to lately.

First, and possibly most importantly, you have have heard the new rules for traveling with animals across borders thanks to the CDC. This has been a very hot button topic within the mushing community as it would make things more difficult for teams traveling through Canada to get to the Lower 48 or Alaska. Races are now in jeopardy for some teams, and the young dogs and new puppies doing tours on the Alaskan Panhandle are looking at being stranded because they won't be able to travel easily. Many mushers in Canada AND the US have spoken out. 

 

Jr. Iditarod sign ups are in full swing and they had two more mushers sign up over the American holiday weekend.

Speaking of Iditarod... THE Iditarod made a few announcements this week. The big one being today (Tuesday, July 9). As you might know, the fame Burled Arch that stands over the finish line in Nome broke apart this spring (thankfully AFTER the race had come and gone). Soon after it was made known that Iditarod finisher and skilled craftsman Ramey Smyth would have the honor of creating a new arch (every 25 years or so a new one seems to need to be made). Now the Iditarod has announced how fans and supporters can join in and raise funds for the arch.

Girdwood's Forest Fair took place this past weekend and "history was made" as the parade to kick off the event was led by a team of sled dogs driven by fan favorite Hunter Keefe. Hunter is part of the team of mushers who run the Girdwood Sled Dog Tours and is having a fantastic summer. (Also amusing is dogs are not permitted to enter the "fair" so to have them lead the parade gave many a good laugh.)

Jr. Musher Thale Randall did something he hadn't done before, he raced the Jr. Mount Marathon race in Seward on the 4th of July. He placed extremely well as a rookie. Thale's dad is running the Iditarod as a rookie in 2025 and his sister has made a name for herself on the junior circuit. The family resides with their sled dogs in the Interior and own Rock on Racing Sled Dogs kennel.

Matt Failor announced that his tour company isn't just dogs anymore, they are now offering ATV tours as well! You can even combine and create a package of both dog and machine. Failor and crew run an excellent establishment that gets high praise from tourists and locals alike.

Dallas Seavey gave an update on the seriously injured dogs from his team (snowmachine incident in November, and homicidal moose on the Iditarod). You may want some kleenex.

As stated, this is by no means all that was posted this week on social media, it's just a sampling. Check back next week for the next round up!

If you like what you see and want to support my addiction (I mean HOBBY) of following these races and stalking (I mean cheering on) the mushers, you can buy me a slice of pizza (that really goes to paying for my internet/web expenses).

Seavey's lead grows as he blows through Koyuk

While it's still nearly two hundred miles to go, so very premature to call the race now, it looks like Dallas Seavey is on his way to making history again this year. While some may roll their eyes and grumble about him winning again, there's still a lot that can happen to stop that from happening in Iditarod 52. 

Dallas pulled into Koyuk officially at 7:11am and immediately got to work opening up drop bags and packing his batsled. Seavey informed the crew in the checkpoint he was not going to stay but keep going towards Elim. He grabbed straw and attached it to his sled. He moved quickly and decidedly, and at 7:23am he was off again heading toward the shelter cabin fifteen-ish miles up the trail where it is believed he will camp for a time before going through Elim and on to White Mountain and his final 8 hour mandatory rest. 

Dallas gained at least another half hour on Jessie Holmes in this run across the sea ice. Holmes is running barely a mile ahead of Matt Hall on the Norton Sound and should be into Koyuk by 9am. It's anyone's guess if either will stay or go. If they stay, Dallas' lead will continue to grow. If they go through we may very well have ourselves a dog race to the finishline.

The chase pack is into Shaktoolik and out on the Norton Sound. Lots of leap frogging which makes for an exciting race for the top twenty positions (especially the top ten)!

In sadder news, fan favorite Hunter Keefe has scratched in Unalakleet according to a statement released by Iditarod early Monday morning. Keefe scratched pursuant to rule 42 (expired dog). This is the second rule 42 scratch in Iditarod 52. Keefe was on his way to having another close to top ten finish in the Iditarod and had 10 dogs in harness when he scratched.