Mushers banquet packs 'em in

It wasn't a rock concert or a pivotal Anchorage Aces hockey game. Rather, the annual mushers banquet filled the parking lot at Sullivan Arena with cars Thursday night. Inside, a crowd of 1,500 Iditarod fans and sponsors crowded onto the floor to mingle with their favorite competitors.

Contenders

As a group, Iditarod mushers may be the oldest elite athletes in the world.

Last Great Race under way

Thousands of fans lined Fourth AvenueSaturday to cheer on 56 mushers at the ceremonial start of the 27th annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, the longest and most famous sled dog race in the world.

This start's for real

Jeff King had a great night's sleep before the official start of the Iditarod in Wasilla Sunday except for a dream he had about rival Rick Swenson.

Lessons from the trail

Add the name of an Indiana grade school teacher to the record-splitting list of rookies in this year's Iditarod.

McGrath hospitality revives tired teams

MCGRATH - Harry Caldwell yawned. He sipped some coffee. Then he yawned again.

Swingley threatens win margin

UNALAKLEET - Montana's Doug Swingley, who holds the fastest Iditarod time in history, is threatening to make this year's race the most lopsided.

Montana team's oldest dog is first to die in race

A 3-year-old male dog named Rodman in the team of Jeremy Gebauer became the first to die in this year's Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Tenacity, 'airhead' dog lead Buser to 2nd

NOME - The 27th annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race almost drove Martin Buser crazy.

Swingley contemplates 8-day Iditarod

Given the right circumstances, Doug Swingley thinks his dog team could have made the Iditarod an 8-day race: If the trail had been better, if the weather had been better (no 44-degree below zero temperatures on the Yukon River), if there'd been more competition.

Swingley survives and wins

Thoroughly tested by violent Southwest Alaska weather, a frosty Doug Swingley pulled into Bethel early Tuesday morning behind a happy dog team to win the 20th anniversary Kuskokwim 300 Sled Dog Race.

Nome within Barron's reach

John Barron is one of the gray eminences of the Iditarod. And not just metaphorically because of his longevity. He's got gray hair and a gray mustache. So gray it's going on white.

Alaska's ripe for Seward-to-Fairbanks stage race

The Next Great Race.

Swingley stretches lead in miserable wind

Wind-sculpted snowdrifts that form roof-high around the cabins of Kaltag each winter greeted Montanan Doug Swingley on Saturday as he led the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race off the bitterly cold Yukon River.

King gives up chase of the front-runners

Defending Iditarod champion Jeff King has given up any aspirations to keep up with second-place Martin Buser or third-place Rick Swenson. King's team of eight dogs was fourth into Unalakleet, less than two hours behind Swenson, but in need of a much longer rest.

Goosen claims Safety-to-Nome record

Shane Goosen's dogs may not be the fastest, but they can smell the barn.

Musher follows dream from Baltimore to Nome

On rolling hills outside Baltimore, where the average winter temperature hovers near 40 degrees and snow is cause for a citywide shutdown, Dan Dent is doing his best to train for 1,100 miles of Alaska wilderness.

Musher ponders future in wake of grizzly attack

FAIRBANKS - Sepp Herrmann finds himself at a spiritual crossroads.

Essay writer earns Iditaride of his life

INDIAN - Usually, D'Antoine Webb loves to talk. But at the first sight of "his" sled dogs, the Baltimore teen seemed to enter a trance.

Every team holds a string of personalities

Some of the biggest personalities on the Iditarod trail this year may not be Martin Buser, DeeDee Jonrowe or Jeff King but Shut up, Rascal and Wolf Man.

Mushers get creative when naming canines

ANCHORAGE - Iditarod veteran Bill Cotter figures his sled dogs are athletes, so it's not a real stretch to name them after others populating the world of sports.