Posts in Press Releases
Iron Dog 38 forges ahead with 2022 race plan

Proving that even a worldwide pandemic can’t stop tradition, the World’s Longest Toughest Snowmobile Race is on for 2022. Iron Dog 38 will take a page from 2021’s successful event, which followed strict mitigation procedures that kept racers, volunteers and spectators along the racecourse safe.

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Iron Dog Board Announces Bob Menne as Executive Director.

The Iron Dog Board is pleased to announce the selection of Bob Menne as the new executive director. Menne, a lifelong snowmobile enthusiast and racer brings a long career of experience in the motor sports industry and business management expertise. Menne and his family relocated to Alaska from Minnesota in 2020 after competing in the 2018 Iron Dog race.

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Thank You Mike Vasser

Anchorage, Alaska – Thursday May 6, 2021. The Iron Dog Board would like to thank Mike Vasser for stepping in at the last minute as Interim Executive Director of the 2021 race. Mike's collaboration with board members, volunteers, community leaders, COVID mitigation experts and racers brought the 2021 race to reality when many said it could not happen.

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EVENING UPDATE: Top four teams hold up in Puntilla for Saturday finale on Big Lake

(PUNTILLA LAKE, Feb. 19, 7:30 p.m.) – When Team 14 Casey Boylan and Bryan Leslie, were prepping to leave McGrath Friday morning, they agreed: No rash moves.

“Really we are just trying to stay steady and do what we know how to do,” said Boylan from McGrath, before the two headed out. “We haven’t been riding too hard, and we agreed that whatever pace we ride is the place we are going to get.”

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EVENING UPDATE: As miles add up, field starts to spread

(McGRATH, Alaska, 9 p.m.) – The blistering pace that has been set since the beginning of Iron Dog 38 started to show some cracks today — on racers, and their machines.

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AFTERNOON UPDATE: Front-runners crash, but the race is still on

(GALENA, Alaska, Feb. 18, 4 p.m.) – A collision on the trail rattled two of the top three teams today, but by 3 p.m. everyone was settled into Galena, eating food and cracking jokes.

As Doug Dixon, Iron Dog board of directors vice president said, this is just part of racing.

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EVENING UPDATE: Minnesota racers scratch in Koyuk; others trickle in to Kotzebue

(KOTZEBUE, Alaska, 9:30 p.m.) – As the evening hours waned, two teams were still on the Kotzebue Loop north of Selawik, and one beleaguered team called it quits in Koyuk. Team 2, Jacob Dahle and Dustin Dohrn of Minnesota, left the White Mountain checkpoint at 12:41 p.m. and did not arrive into Koyuk until 7:04 p.m., a roughly 100-mile section that took the front-runners just an hour and a half to cover. Unofficial reports blame mechanical problems – a reality in this race that can put racers from first to finished in a matter of seconds.

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AFTERNOON UPDATE: Front-runners begin arriving in Kotzebue

(KOTZEBUE, Alaska, 4:15 p.m.) – It was another exciting day of racing on Wednesday as teams 5 and 6 duked it out on Kobuk Lake to see who would arrive in Kotzebue first. Local volunteer and radio announcer Paulette Scheurch gave the blow-by-blow to excited KOTZ radio listeners as at 3:07:56 p.m. Team 6 pulled into the checkpoint. Team 6 Brad George and Robby Schachle got there with the narrowest of leads. Team 5, Brett Lapham and Zack Weisz clocked in at 3:08:54, just 58 seconds behind their competitors.

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AFTERNOON UPDATE: Iron Dog racers begin sprint to the finish

(NOME, Alaska, Feb. 17, 12:15 p.m.) – As the last eight Iron Dog teams were being released from Nome on Wednesday for the race back to Big Lake, the front of the pack had already reached Koyuk and were entering the Kotzebue Loop.

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EVENING UPDATE: Iron Dog posts racer start times from Nome

(NOME, Alaska, REVISED 5 a.m. Feb 17 to reflect updated start order Feb. 16, 8 p.m.) – Eighteen Iron Dog teams spent the day in Nome on Tuesday, prepping their sleds for the roughly 1,600 miles separating them from the finish line.

After all the wrenching was done, and the on-the-clock garage times added to each team’s course totals, Team 5, Brett Lapham and Zack Weisz skipped ahead of Team 6, Brad George and Robby Schachle. Still, the two teams are running neck and neck, with just 6 minutes and 30 seconds separating them. Team 10, Chris Olds and Mike Morgan, with six wins between them, remain in third. All are Iron Dog veterans and some of the top racers in the field.

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NOON UPDATE: Team 6 Iron Dog leaders stay realistic about the race

(NOME, Alaska, Feb. 16, 12 p.m.) – Team 6, Robby Schachle and Brad George, arrived into Nome on Monday with a razor-thin lead in Iron Dog 38. Less than 10 minutes separate them from the next two teams.

The pair knows first hand, though, how quickly things can change in the World’s Longest, Toughest Snowmobile Race.

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EVENING UPDATE: Team 21 Hale brothers first into Nome, but Team 6 takes the lead

NOME, AK (Feb. 15, 2021, 6:30 p.m.) – In 1925, a diptheria outbreak in Nome nearly turned into an epidemic, but a gutsy relay of dog teams traveling across the state with an antitoxin rescued the village just in time.

Flash forward nearly a century later: A worldwide pandemic is on the loose, and Alaskans are not immune. Yet still, gutsy performances continue – this time by the 18 remaining Iron Dog Pro Class teams that began arriving in Nome this afternoon.

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