Iditarod

Yukon Quest winner Allen Moore drops out of Iditarod; Wade Marrs, Tom Schonberger also scratch

Allen Moore, who won the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest last month, has dropped out of the Iditarod due to health concerns, according to race officials. He is the third musher to drop out, or "scratch," so far Tuesday.

Wade Marrs, a Willow musher who has finished in the top 10 of the last three Iditarods, and rookie musher Tom Schonberger of Chugiak are also headed home.

Marrs scratched at noon at the checkpoint in Koyuk. He had nine dogs in harness at the time and was in 22nd place when he arrived at the checkpoint at mile 827. A post on the Facebook Page for Marrs' Stump Jumpin' Kennel said the musher appeared to have pneumonia.

Rookie musher Tom Schonberger of Chugiak also scratched today, dropping out at 1:33 p.m. between the Grayling (mile 530) and Eagle Island checkpoints on the Yukon River. Schonberger, known for his team of Siberian huskies, will be traveling back to Grayling with the help of Iditarod trail sweepers, according to race officials.

Moore scratched at 3:30 p.m. in Kaltag (mile 652) with 13 dogs.

The Iditarod did not say exactly why Marrs and Schonberger scratched, announcing only that the decisions were made "in the best interest" of their race teams.

Kyle Hopkins

Kyle Hopkins is special projects editor of the Anchorage Daily News. He was the lead reporter on the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Lawless" project and is part of an ongoing collaboration between the ADN and ProPublica's Local Reporting Network. He joined the ADN in 2004 and was also an editor and investigative reporter at KTUU-TV. Email khopkins@adn.com