Snow Machining

McKenna, VanMeter win Iron Dog by more than an hour

Holding a bottle of champagne in one hand and his 3 1/2-year-old daughter, Asa, in the other, Marc McKenna tipped the bottle up, took a big swig and then shook it up and sprayed family and friends who had surrounded him to celebrate his and Dusty VanMeter's victory in the Iron Dog on Saturday.

McKenna, VanMeter holding steady in Iron Dog

With two Iron Dog titles to his name, Marc McKenna knows what it takes to win the longest and toughest snowmachine race in the world.

Morgan and Olds lead Iron Dog at Kaltag

Mike Morgan and Chris Olds were the first Iron Dog team to reach Kaltag on Thursday, pulling in at 3:59 p.m. and declaring their mandatory 10-hour layover.

Iron Dog team still in race reaches Nome

Of the 31 Iron Dog teams that left Big Lake on Sunday, 27 safely reached Nome, the halfway point of the 2,000-mile snowmachine race to Fairbanks.

Iron Dog leaders in Nome

Led by drivers Marc McKenna and Dusty VanMeter, eight Iron Dog teams arrived in Nome on Tuesday, marking the halfway point of the 2,000-mile snowmachine race from Big Lake to Fairbanks.

Pdf: Iron Dog driver profiles

Photos: Iron Dog start

Iron Dog website: Track the racers

PHOTO GALLERY

Iron Dog front-runners reach McGrath

The 2012 Iron Dog is under way. Thirty-one teams left Big Lake starting at 11 a.m. Sunday and are on their way to Fairbanks, a roughly 2,000-mile journey. By late Sunday several teams had reached McGrath, where they were taking a layover.

Iron Dog website: Track the racers

Iron Dog starts today

Thirty-one Iron Dog racers will leave Big Lake today and head into the wilderness for a 2,000-mile journey across Alaska in the 28th running of the world's longest and toughest snowmachine race.

Iron Dog start line is flooded

Recommended gear for Sunday's Iron Dog start at Big Lake might include hip waders. Reports of standing water -- perhaps 18 inches of it -- could make things messy when 31 pro teams leave the frozen lake Sunday afternoon for the start of the 2,000-mile race across Alaska.

Kodiak teen has kept improving after spinal injury

As the holiday season comes to a close, Aaron Cooper has many things to be thankful for, most importantly his life. Four years ago in Fairbanks, Cooper, a 2007 Kodiak High School graduate, was involved in a life-threatening snowmachine accident.

SNOWMOBILING

Sena nabs two wins

Tysen Sena claimed two victories at Big Lake in the Mat-Su Snowmachine Racing Club's first race of the season on Dec. 18. There were 51 racers participating in the event.

Defending Iron Dog champs to race with new partners

Chris Olds and Tyler Huntington won't be defending their title in February's Iron Dog snowmachine race -- at least not together.

Smelcer takes top King of Hill snowmachine honors

Valdez driver Matt Smelcer earned King of the Hill honors over the weekend as snowmobilers capped the season in Girdwood with a slew of races called Alyeska Motor Madness.

No injuries in four-vehicle crash near Paxson

Four vehicles, some pulling trailers with snowmachines on the way back from the Arctic Man races, crashed this morning in slippery conditions on the Richardson Highway, according to Alaska State Troopers.

Sena wins two snowmachine race classes

Tyson Sena claimed victory in two classes in the Alaska Motor Mushers Club Vintage race series at Houston Lodge on Sunday.

Faeo wins at Big Lake snowmachine race

Scott Faeo won the pro class at the Alaska Motor Mushers Club's Larry Heal memorial race Saturday at Big Lake.

SNOW MACHINING

Tilton wins three

Tylor Tilton won three of four pro-class events at the Alaska Motor Mushers Club snowcross races last weekend during Fur Rondy.

2011 IRON DOG

Polaris revved up about how its machines performed in Iron Dog

Champions Chris Olds of Eagle River and Tyler Huntington of Fairbanks weren't the only ones ecstatic at the result of the Iron Dog, that ended Saturday night in Fairbanks with the team's second consecutive victory.

2011 IRON DOG

Huntington-Olds team wins the Iron Dog snowmachine race

Tyler Huntington of Fairbanks and Chris Olds of Eagle River repeated as Iron Dog champions early Saturday evening, passing the team of Todd Palin and Eric Quam in the final 100 miles of the 2,000-mile snowmachine race across Alaska.

2011 IRON DOG

Wild Iron Dog headed for close finish tonight

A crazy Iron Dog snowmobile race battered by nasty weather and driver mishaps looked to be headed for a logical ending tonight, with two of the top teams gunning it for the finish line neck-in-neck.

McKenna, Van Meter lead Iron Dog pack

Sixty-nine hours after they arrived at the halfway stop of Nome, leaders Marc McKenna and Dusty Van Meter fired up their Ski-Doos and returned to the trail late Friday afternoon to resume the storm-battered Iron Dog.

Iron Dog leaders can leave Nome this morning

Rested from a 36-hour layover, the top Iron Dog competitors are scheduled to leave Nome this morning, although a snowstorm might not leave them with much of a trail.