STATE LOSES NOTABLE FIGURES

Iditarod founder Joe Redington Sr. and Edgar Nollner, the last survivor of the serum run that inspired the famed sled dog race, were among Alaskans who passed away in 1999.

READERS LIKE MOE AND JOE

The greatest accomplishment by an Alaska athlete the past 100 years was Tommy Moe's unexpected Olympic victory.

LITTLE, ROYER LEAD COPPER BASIN 300

A newspaper reporter from the Kenai Peninsula and a Montanan who has worked as a dog handler for Iditarod champs Doug Swingley and Jeff King moved to the front of the Copper Basin 300 Sled Dog Race on Sunday. The move by journalist Jon Little was not a big surprise. He led this race briefly last year before being passed by eventual winner Martin Buser and fading to fourth.

BOULDING WINS KUSKOKWIM 300

UPPER KALSKAG--With a blizzard raging outside and nearly everyone indoors -- including his wife -- questioning his sanity, Charlie Boulding set out alone into a blinding snowstorm Saturday night, making the move that would bring victory Sunday afternoon in the Kuskokwim 300 Sled Dog Race.

AKIAK'S TOUGH, CANTANKEROUS RED DOGS WIN MUSHERS' RESPECT

BETHEL --No one is sure when the first dogs showed up in Akiak. But there are some dog mushers who say that all the best sled dogs come from this tiny village 25 miles east of Bethel.

Dogs, mushers, trails . . . ACTION!

About 1 o’clock in the morning, Mike Nosko emerges from the darkened Iditarod Trail, a frost-stiffened, down-coated wilderness traveler. He guides his sled dogs to a halt, and as camera lights find his face, an Iditarod checkpoint volunteer asks his name.

BOULDING CAPTURES KLONDIKE 300 TITLE

Daily News And Wire Reports BIG LAKE--Charlie Boulding and a team of 12 dogs crossed the finish line Monday to win the Klondike 300 Sled Dog Race.

For his first-place finish, Boulding got $4,480 -- 40 percent of the $11,200 purse -- and a meal of steak, eggs, hash browns, two slices of orange, and coffee at the Klondike Inn.

Musher's dream survives

The nightmare of the mauling Dan Dent suffered at the hands of his dog team early in the 1999 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is largely a memory now.

IDITAROD'S RECORD FIELD LOSES FOUR MUSHERS

The record field for the 2000 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is shrinking.

JONROWE ENLISTS NEW HELP

Since last March's mutiny on the Yukon River, DeeDee Jonrowe has been building a new dog team.

FLU FOILS BEST LAID COPPER BASIN PLANS

The flu bug on Friday significantly altered the looks of the Copper Basin 300 Sled Dog Race scheduled to start today in Gakona.

GEBHARDT DECLARED WINNER OF COPPER BASIN 300

After a night of debate and a day of contemplation by race officials, Paul Gebhardt of Kasilof on Tuesday was crowned the winner of the Copper Basin 300 Sled Dog Race. He was the first musher to cross the finish line outside the Gakona Lodge and Trading Post Monday evening, but five more mushers followed within 22 minutes. With the dog teams parked, the jockeying began.

IDITAROD BUG'S GOT A GRIP ON RUNYAN

CLIFF, N.M.--He won 'em all, and then he got out. Joe Runyan won the Yukon Quest in 1985, the Alpirod in 1988 and the Iditarod in 1989 -- the triple crown of dog mushing. If he was not the best musher in the world at the time, he was 1A to Susan Butcher. And then he wondered if he really wanted to race huskies for the rest of his life.

BARRON DEFENDS TITLE

Daily News Staff And Wire Reports

Alaskan takes title in Quest

Fifteen years after Libby Riddles brought an international spotlight to Alaska by battling through a raging Bering Sea storm to become the first woman to win a major, long-distance sled dog race, 30-year-old Aliy Zirkle has mimicked the feat in the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race.

WILLIS CHARGES INTO LEAD

Traveling fast on the ice-hardened trails of the Nelchina Basin, Andy Willis led the Copper Basin 300 Sled Dog Race -- and his boss -- into the Tolsona Resort on Saturday evening. A veteran of the 1996 and 1998 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Races, Willis, who grew up in Anchorage, is now a dog handler for Iditarod contender DeeDee Jonrowe of Willow.

24 KLONDIKE 300 MUSHERS HIT TRAIL

BIG LAKE--Lynda Plettner left the starting line of the Klondike 300 Sled Dog race as the the top returning finisher from last year's event.

Trail medicine

Out on the trail, musher Chuck King finds peace. The hissing of the runners, the panting of the dogs, the beauty of the north. It's his only escape. For a few precious hours, there's no pain. No fear. No AIDS.

BAD WEATHER DOGS KUSKO

BETHEL--With the start of the Kuskokwim 300 Sled Dog Race hours away, the talk of this town was not about veterans Martin Buser or Charlie Boulding, but a more elemental factor: the weather.

The forecast called for blowing snow, temperatures in the 30s and wind gusts of up to 30 mph -- a musher's nightmare. Or, as race director Bev Hoffman put it, ''Crappy.''

30 MILES TO 300

BETHEL--In 15 years of racing sled dogs, Curtis Erhart has rarely made it his goal simply to finish. But lining up here Friday at the start of the 21st Kuskokwim 300 Sled Dog Race, all this veteran competitor had in mind was making it back to this riverside town.

Redington rallies for Junior Iditarod crown

Ryan Redington became Ryan the Rallier to win the Junior Iditarod sled dog race for the second straight year.