Victory is sweet – especially when you know it’s happening
Your 2025 Iron Dog podium: Team 7 Tyler Aklestad and Aaron Loyer (third place), Team 20 Robby Schachle and Brad George (first plac), and Team 14 Casey Boylan and Brian Leslie. Tracy Try photo
This year, when Team 20’s Brad George and Robby Schachle crossed the finish line to capture their second Iron Dog Pro Class win, they savored every moment.
“It was awesome,” said Schachle, who was recovering from a week of intense racing on Monday. “I got on the radio, and said, ‘Brad, one last corner, we are doing it, we are about to win the Iron Dog.’ It was a really cool feeling to take two years off and be able to come back and put on a good show, still be competitive.”
The pair’s first win was quite different than this year’s race. When George and Schachle came across the finish line in 2021, they thought they had placed second. Team 14’s Casey Boylan and Brian Leslie had a 30-minute lead leaving Skwentna, and George and Schachle never caught up with them. So, they were confused when the crowd went wild upon their arrival at the Big Lake finish.
Unbeknownst to George and Schachle, Team 14, struggling with locked-up engines and broken towropes, had mistaken a windswept trail for the race trail and got off course. George and Schachle rode right on past them and out onto Big Lake.
Schachle joked that he wanted a do-over so he could pump his fists in the air in victory.
That’s just what they were able to do on Saturday. Holding a lead from start to finish, Team 20 completed their 2025 Iron Dog Race in 53 hours, 32 minutes and 56 seconds, more than 57 minutes ahead of second-place finishers Bryan Leslie and Casey Boylan.
Rounding out the podium was Team 7’s Tyler Aklestad and Aaron Loyer, who came in third with a time of 55 hours, 42 minutes, 54 seconds.
Teams 20 and 7 were riding Ski-Doo this year, claiming two of the Top 3 spots in Iron Dog 2025. Tracy Try photo
Also claiming victory on the podium this year was Ski-Doo who rebounded from 2024 when its top-placing team was eighth-place finishers Dillan Dohrn and Dustin Dohrn of Minnesota. This year, it was Ski-Doo in the No. 1 and No. 3 spots, with Polaris having fuel issues that saw many racers running out of gas mid-race.
“Without a doubt it was good to see Ski-Doo up there, it definitely silences the doubt,” said Aklestad, who’s a diehard Ski-Doo racer. “Each manufacturer’s got its pros and cons, and that’s the name of the game. There are going to be ups and downs as you develop.
“Maybe I’m biased, but Ski-Doo makes an amazing machine and deserve all the credit,” he added.
Iron Dog Executive Director Mike Vasser interviews Team 14’s Casey Boylan after rhteir second-place finish on Saturday. Teammate Bryan Leslie is in the background. Tracy Try photo.
Casey Boylan of Team 14 said he and Leslie ran out of fuel only one time, and fortunately in an area where it was not critical. He said learning the nuances of the new Polaris motors is a skill that requires time on the sled and learning how your particular sled maneuvers.
“These Polarises make more power and burn more fuel,” he said. “The gauges aren’t exactly precise, so you have to know your ride.”
To see Team 7 on the podium may come as a surprise to those less in-the-know – after Aklestad’s longtime partner Nick Olstad had to withdraw due to injury, it seemed this year Aklestad might just try to make it to the finish. Instead, Aklestad said, he took his time choosing a new partner, working with Ski-Doo, and considering his options. He made the right choice.
Aaron Loyer was technically a rookie at the Iron Dog, but he is anything but when it comes to competitive racing. Not to mention, he and Aklestad have been friends since they were 8 years old. Aklestad said more than anything, he wanted a partner he could trust.
“I’ve known Aaron most of my life; we grew up best friends since we were little kids and grew up racing together. I knew he was capable of it and someone who I could trust. He hadn’t been on a snowmobile for a while, but I knew there was the ability.”
“That guy’s a savage,” Schachle echoed. “Aaron’s very, very talented. He’s a big-time dirt biker. Every time he’s ever run the Iron Dog, he would be up in first, second, up front until some mechanical got in the way. But he knows how to ride.”
Loyer had to dust off those abilities with Aklestad, who is a hardened racer with ingrained habits that make him efficient on the trail. Where he and Nick could be on the trail and had unspoken routines, with Aaron, he had to adjust.
“I know Aaron well and where his strong suits are,” Aklestad said. “He is very fast in high- speed areas, and some of the lower tree, tight stuff, going through we had to slow it down a little. So, it became about managing where we knew we could be competitive and fast and where we could push it.”
Team 7’s Aaron Loyer and Tyler Aklestad at the finish of the 2025 Iron Dog. They finished third. Tracy Try photo
They posted the fastest speeds coming into Galena, Selawik, Kiana and White Mountain, and on the return into Kaltag and Poorman. Their thoughtful approach to racing paid off, and Aaron is now a bona-fide veteran.
But, Aklestad said, he and Nick will be back at it again next year. Olstad is healing up well and Loyer is happy to return to his “race fan” status.
I’m not sure Iron Dog’s high on his list of things to do repetitively,” Aklestad joked. “Going into the race, his temperature cutoff is like 10 above, and we went well past that many times.”
Team 14, for their part, continues to stay strong on the podium with their third-straight second-place finish. They were able to bring a podium spot home to Polaris, and still run a competitive race despite a few mechanicals that held them up.
“That first day kicked our teeth in, losing an hour and 15 minutes,” Boylan said. “Bryan is so good staying at a 5, and I’m all over a 10. That’s a huge amount of time to make up with these pros racing in this race.”
Boylan said he and Leslie knew the snow would be low in the Farewell Burn – but he didn’t expect nonexistent.
“We really underestimated how bad it was going to be, and for so long,” he said. There is nothing there, not even snow in the tussocks.”
Once again, Team 14 fell short of their No. 1 goals, but Boylan said it’s only a matter of time.
“I firmly believe we have the speed to do it, but a lot of things that have to fall in place to do it,” he said. “We were two pipes and a driver away from victory.”
All these racers are ready for a break. Schachle, for his part, is heading to Mexico for a sunny vacation. George is getting on a plane to Hawaii on Tuesday. But they will be back for Iron Dog 2026 – the World’s Longest, Toughest Snowmobile Race.