Anyone who races Iron Dog is out to prove how well they can do, but the first three Iron Dog teams into Nome on Monday all have something specific in mind. 

Team 7’s Nick Olstad and Tyler Aklestad, the 2020 Iron Dog champions who couldn’t defend their title after a scratch ended their 2021 race, arrived first to Nome at 2:17 p.m. Monday, amid blizzard conditions. They are hoping 2022 will be better to them.

A little more than 30 minutes later, Team 6 came in. Brad George and Robby Schachle were 2021’s “accidental” champions when crossing the finish line after unwittingly passing a team they thought was ahead of them. They’d like a chance to savor a victory.

Behind Team 6 on Monday came Team 14, Casey Boylan and Bryan Leslie, who had the 2021 race nearly cinched when a mechanical failure just 20 miles from the finish line held them up. They limped in at second place, towing one sled behind the other. They’d like a do-over.

All three teams are a force, and all six racers have repeatedly proven their mettle. The National Weather Service issued a Winter Storm Warning through midnight on Monday, with heavy, blowing snow, blizzard conditions and winds up to 45 mph. After battling those conditions from Unalakleet to Nome, the racers were happy to be off their sleds to rest, make any necessary mechanical adjustments and regroup for the return trek back. 

With time adjustments made for layover and departure times, the actual leaders remain Team 7 in first place, Team 14 in second, and Team 10, Chris Olds and Mike Morgan, in third.

The Nome Halfway Banquet will be held Tuesday evening – although racers are far from halfway. The Northbound Route is approximately 1,021 miles, while the Red Dog Loop adds an additional 461 miles on the return loop. Racers still have an estimated 1,482 miles yet to race. Each team also gets scheduled time on the clock in the garage in Nome to make any necessary repairs or adjustments, then it’s back on the trail on Wednesday. 

While the top teams may be relaxing now, it hasn’t been easygoing. 

On the river at Nulato, Team 24, Evan Booth and his son Steffen, came across Team 6 – now one of the front-runners – broken down along the trail. 

“We stopped to make sure they were OK, and they motioned they were, so we took off,” said Evan Booth. A few minutes later the Team 6 caught up and the Booths pulled over to let them pass by. Shortly down the trail, they caught up with them, stopped again. 

“I didn’t realize they needed something, but Steffen stopped,” Booth said. It turned out the team was out of gas, so Booth said Steffen got them to a checkpoint, where they could figure out how to refuel.  

At a place called Walla Walla, 10 miles past Elim, they watched Team 14 cross a short stretch of overflow. 

“We watched Casey buck across it, then Bryan went across it and crashed super hard,” Evan Booth said. “I went across and checked on him and got him on his feet. I was ready to get out the SAT phone, because I thought it’s going to be one really bad injury. He’s going to be hurting hard.” 

Between injuries and mechanical problems, six teams have now scratched from the race. Late Sunday, Jacob Dahle and Leah Bauer, Team 2, were traveling just outside of Galena when Bauer’s sled caught fire and was destroyed. 

“It’s one thing to have a mechanical breakdown and you can fix it, but we were just forced to quit – we just lost an entire sled,” said Dahle from Galena, where he was forced to end his second attempt at completing the race. “We are literally leaving it here, because there is nothing to take off it.”

Dahle said they still have no idea how the fire happened but once the machine ignited, dowsing the flames was futile in all the blowing wind.   

After losing site of Bauer on the Yukon River, Dahle said he circled back to find her, waving a flashlight. 

“I get to her and at first I don’t see anything, then all of a sudden, I see this little bit of orange,” he said. “The whole thing went up in a second. There was nothing we could do.”

On Monday, Team 2 was still trying to work their way back to Anchorage, where they will collect their gear and stay for the awards banquet and cheer on the other racers who’ve given them so much support. Dahle said he was especially disappointed because up to that moment, he and Bauer were having a textbook-smooth experience. 

“Leah and I were doing great, we were getting along, the machines were going well. We had a great pace going,” he said. “I’m very proud of how we were doing.”

Team 38, rookies Jeff Stoll of Steamboat Springs, Colo., and Dan Zimmerman of Nisswa, Minn., had their own challenges on Sunday. 

Butch Captain was at home in Ruby, simultaneously watching TV and keeping tabs on the Iron Dog GPS leaderboard. 

“I noticed they hadn’t moved for 15 minutes, and it was whiteout conditions,” said Captain, who’s lived in Ruby all his life. “I got dressed and said, ‘I’m going to go.’ It could be two peoples’ lives; you can’t leave them out there. They don’t know Alaska. They were on the Yukon and it’s always blowing out there.”

Captain and his 13-year-old nephew Levi Williams geared up and headed out. On their two wide-track Ski-Doos. They drove toward Team 38’s marked GPS location, to a spot the locals call “Yuki.”  

“It’s always blowing there,” Captain said. “If you’re in a whiteout it’s the worse place you can be.” 

Captain and Levi rode for nearly 20 miles before eventually finding Team 38, who had gotten off trail and were disoriented in the whiteout. They were safe, but cold, and when Captain said he could get them back to the trail, where the stakes marked the way, Zimmerman and Stoll decided to backtrack to Ruby instead. 

Captain brought the two to his house for the night, where they warmed up by the woodstove, dried their gear and enjoyed some of Elizabeth Captain’s moose stew. They didn’t scratch until the next day, when they assessed the damage to their sleds and decided to call it.

“They were super happy,” Captain said. “I’m glad they are safe. I just didn’t like the idea of them being so close, and maybe one is hurt, maybe they crashed. We just had to find them.”

Media Contact: Bob Menne, Executive Director, Iron Dog Inc., (907) 854-0097 or (907) 563-4414,  director@irondog.org      

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