ALASKA'S NEWSPAPER

| help

alaska.com

Last Update: 2:03 PM

2008 Iditarod sled dog race

Iditarod musher King charged with illegal moose kill

Four-time Iditarod champ Jeff King has been charged in federal court with illegally killing a moose in Denali National Park and Preserve.

Iditarod mushers accept honors

For a time Monday, the start to the finish of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race for 62-year-old rookie Deborah Bicknell from Juneau was taking on hints of disaster.

DAY 15

Iditarod Red Lantern winner is ...

With 65 mushers across the finish line and the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race banquet looming today, perhaps the last thing to be settled is the red lantern winner.

Scdoris scratches in Koyuk

The third Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race was clearly not the charm for Rachael Scdoris, the vision-impaired musher from Oregon.

DAY 14

Nome teen makes it home

Using trail markers as ski poles for the last 70 miles to ease the load for her six dogs remaining in harness, Iditarod rookie Melissa Owens got home Thursday morning just in time for breakfast.

Kleedehn is rookie of the year

Kleedehn is rookie of the year

William Kleedehn of Carcross, Yukon, claimed rookie-of-the year honors for his 28th place finish on Thursday.

DAY 13

Mackey's magical run in Iditarod, Quest

Hardworking blue-collar nice guy Lance Mackey from Fairbanks today owns the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race the way no one has since Doug Swingley at the dawn of the millennium.

Trail gambits throughout Iditarod history

Smyth leads Iditarod pack for third

Smyth leads Iditarod pack for third

While Lance Mackey charged onto Front Street for his second straight Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race victory, more than a dozen teams rested 70 miles away early Wednesday morning on the banks of the Fish River.

Trail gambits throughout Iditarod history

Some decisive events in Iditarod history

DAY 12 - MACKEY WINS THE IDITAROD

Mackey proves Iditarod/Quest wins no fluke

Sled-dog racing pundits said it couldn't be done: Winning both the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest and the 1,100-mile Iditarod in one year, and both in little more than a month. But at 2:46 a.m. today, Lance Mackey and his dogs passed beneath the burled arch in Nome to do it again. Jeff King arrived in second place about 80 minutes later.

Drama plays out as rest of Top 10 finish

Front-running mushers stream across finish line

Iditarod champions of this decade

Buser takes a 130 mph detour

Two hurt when Iditarod plane goes down

Third dog death reported

Drama plays out as rest of Top 10 finish

WHITE MOUNTAIN - While Lance Mackey charged onto Front Street for his second straight Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race victory, more than a dozen teams rested 70 miles away early Wednesday morning here on the banks of the Fish River.

Front-running mushers stream across finish line

A pack of Iditarod mushers followed champion Lance Mackey and runner-up Jeff King across the Nome finish line this morning and early afternoon, creating a scrum for payouts as the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race finished for the frontrunners.

Buser takes a 130 mph detour

Driving his dogs at a blistering 130 mph into Ruby, Martin Buser on Friday was on pace to break his own race record in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. The only problem -- the four-time champion from Big Lake was headed back toward Willow.

Iditarod champions of this decade

Winners and their times since 2000.

Third dog death reported

A 4-year-old dog in the team of veteran Kotzebue musher Ed Iten died Tuesday between Elim and White Mountain, according to the Iditarod Trail Committee.

DAY 11

Mackey leads into last Iditarod checkpoint

WHITE MOUNTAIN - With his dirty, red, arctic snowsuit stripped off and packed away in his sled, defending Iditarod champion Lance Mackey and his team off 11 Alaska huskies set off to run for Nome at 4:53 p.m.

Mackey pushes hard to keep King at bay

Mackey and King ready for stretch run

20 closest finishes in Iditarod history

Lead dog's ashes spread where he often ran best

Snowmachine kills team dog on Yukon

Mind games in play as leaders seek an edge

Mackey gains precious minutes on King

Lead dog's ashes spread where he often ran best

UNALAKLEET -- Feeling melancholy from pouring the ashes of his dead lead dog on the Yukon River, Paul Gebhardt dug deep for happiness late Saturday when he watched green northern lights dance in the sky.

DAY 10

King, Mackey prepare for final charge

Defending Iditarod champion Lance Mackey and four-time victor Jeff King pulled into the Koyuk checkpoint early this afternoon just 130 miles from the finish line on Nome's Front Street and a monumental victory -- no matter which musher wins.

Mackey, King duke it out on last stretch

Snowmachine hits, kills Iditarod dog

King and Mackey leapfrog up the coast

DAY NINE

Veteran King grabs Iditarod lead

UNALAKLEET -- The morning fog lifted just hours before four-time Iditarod champion Jeff King rolled into this Bering Sea village to claim the lead for the first time in The Last Great Race.

Mackey looks to recapture winning formula

Iditarod dog dies, musher scratches

Mackey remains the leader, but King is closing on him

Lanier, 67, surprises Iditarod veterans

DAY EIGHT

Mackey trying to push, but King's closing

Defending champion Lance Mackey pulled out of Nulato at 2:49 this afternoon, still leading the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. But four-time champion Jeff King of Denali Park, with his full complement of 16 dogs still in harness, was starting to close the gap.

King's advantage is in the dogs

At the front, Mackey pushes hard down Yukon

First Iditarod dog dies

Let the banter begin

Takotna is a popular place

DAY SEVEN

Mackey first to head down the Yukon

Defending champion Lance Mackey pulled out of Ruby this afternoon to begin his run down the ice-covered Yukon River in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, hoping to put some distance between him and Jeff King's team of 16 energetic dogs.

King behind Mackey but likes his prospects

Mackey rolls into Ruby

Mackey leads pack headed for Ruby

Woes beset Mackey

Iditarod is no catwalk for rookie DeNure

DAY SIX

King makes push to take charge

Is Jeff King the real leader of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race? It was easy to make that argument after King, fresh off his 24-hour layover, pulled into Ophir at 5:06 p.m. Thursday with a full complement of 16 dogs in harness.

Jonrowe collects gold as Gebhardt strays

Swenson feels he can run with the best of them

Race leader is anybody's guess

Watch out! Here come King, Mackey, Backen

Meet the mushers video: Joe Garnie

Joe Garnie talks about food, music, and his mixed emotions about mushing. He finished 2nd in 1986 and earned $119.933 over the course of his 16 races.

Meet the mushers video: Aliy Zirkle

Musher Aliy Zirkle talks about her dogs, trail food and her ambitions for the race.

DAY FOUR

Lacking a Hobo, Mackey heads for McGrath

Despite temperatures nearly tropical for hard-working dogs, defending champion Lance Mackey bolted out of Nikolai late Tuesday afternoon to grab the lead in the 36th Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Mackey leads charge across Burn

Norwegian first across Farewell Burn

Backen takes early Iditarod role as rabbit

Slowest mushers look at the bright side

DAY THREE

Mushers scoot as storm blows in

With a storm pushing in fast from the south, the leaders in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race were wasting little time getting the historically worst stretch of the route behind them Monday.

Former champ Seavey moves to the front

The Norwegian Connection is back

Chase is on -- 5 mushers bound for Rainy Pass

DAY TWO: OFFICIAL RESTART

The real race begins: 78 reach Skwentna

WILLOW -- As the 95 mushers and thousand-plus dogs prepared to start the real running of the 36th Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Sunday, the sun broke through the clouds to lend a little light and warmth to the proceedings.

Annual Skwentna invasion won't be the same without the Delias

DAY ONE: CEREMONIAL START

Record 96 teams kick off Iditarod

Thousands of people lined Fourth Avenue in downtown and along the 11-mile route to Campbell Airstrip on Saturday to bid a record 96 Iditarod mushers farewell for their formidable winter journey across the wildest reaches of Alaska.

Iditarod mushers leave civilization behind

An adventure like no other begins

Scdoris scratches in Koyuk

The third Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race was clearly not the charm for Rachael Scdoris, the vision-impaired musher from Oregon.

RankMusher (bib)
1 Lance Mackey (6)
2 Jeff King (11)
3 Ramey Smyth (48)
4 Ken Anderson (9)
5 Martin Buser (13)
6 Hans Gatt (38)
7 Mitch Seavey (33)
8 Paul Gebhardt (69)
9 Kjetil Backen (42)
10 Sebastian Schnuelle (68)

Standing provided by iditarod.com
© 2007 Iditarod Trail Committee, Inc.

Photo galleries

Check out daily galleries from this year's race, and seven years worth of past Iditarods.

Iditarod trail gallery

Take a tour of the Iditarod checkpoints with photos pulled from our archive of more than 20 years of races.

Iditarod leaderboard

Track the race on the musher gallery leader board with updated results and standings.

Photo galleries

Seven races worth of images from one of the most remote sporting events in the world.

Video: Dog drop

The race dogs unable to continue the Iditarod are flown back and returned to the mushers or cared for at Hiland Mountain Correctional Facility.

Iditarod newsletter

Sign-up for the Iditarod newsletter for updates from the trail, sent out twice daily.

Susan Butcher memorial

This photo retrospective covers more than two decades of Iditarod racing.

Audio slide show

Watch and listen to veterans and rookies alike talk about what the Last Great Race means to them as they get ready for the start of the 36th Iditarod.

Audio slide show

Watch and listen to the story of the Father of the Iditarod, Joe Redington Sr.'s, last race.

Video series

Two years of ceremonial starts, interviews, a look at the Mackey family of mushers, and more features on The Iditarod.

Animated video

Susitna Sal meets the devil on the Iditarod trail and challenges him to a mush for his soul.

Cost of mushing

Find out what it costs just to get through the Iditarod.

AGGREGATOR

Alaska Newsreader

All Alaska in one click -- news, blogs, videos and more.

Iditarod 36 preview

Special section previewing this year's race.

Anchorage 45° (55°/41°)

Skwentna 48° (63°/39°)

McGrath 55° (59°/39°)

Kaltag 50° (57°/38°)

Unalakleet 54° (57°/40°)

Golovin 52° (49°/37°)

Nome 50° (51°/38°)