February 21, 2025
2025 Iron Dog - Day 7 Update
Of the 14 teams that made the big 682 mile push yesterday from Nome, Team 20 started their day at 8:18am on the clock but immediately began work swapping a suspension rail on one of their sleds. In just about a half hour the machine was back upright and the racers were heading southbound.
As 'long runs' go, Harriett Hamilton Fenerty, who is often called the Iron Dog den-mother, recounts distance records as no layovers. Notable entries include:
1997 – Mark Carr/Scott Davis Galena > Wasilla 656 miles – 0 Layovers
1998 or 1999 Mark Torkelson/Gene LaMay Rohn > Nome 738 miles - 0 Layovers
2018 –Stan James/Paul Sindorf Nome > Tanana 635 miles – 0 Layovers
2021– George/Schachle Kotzebue > McGrath 695 miles – 2 hour LO Galena
2025 – George/Schachle Nome > McGrath 682 miles – 1 hour LO Kaltag
Team 18 posted that they left Nome at 6:08am yesterday and arrived at McGrath around midnight. 18 hours on the sleds for Team 18 makes for a long day. Anyone who has ever ridden a sled knows how crazy this is. Hats off to all these racers, this is truly incredible stuff.
Team 18 posted that they left Nome at 6:08am yesterday and arrived at McGrath around midnight. 18 hours on the sleds for Team 18 makes for a long day. Anyone who has ever ridden a sled knows how crazy this is. Hats off to all these racers, this is truly incredible stuff.
PC: Paul B Walker Jr.
Teams left McGrath preparing for a bit of a different ride as they race toward the Whiskey Bravo checkpoint. Racers are prepping their sleds as best as they can for low snow conditions and some are even swapping fuel cans for bags of ice to help cool their machines as they plow through the frozen dirt.
The screenshot below captured a moment in time as the racers were northbound from Whiskey Bravo to Tatina where several of the racers took an alternate route bypassing Puntilla Lake. No rule inhibited teams from this on the way up but in a video from the Race Marshall indicated that on the southbound trip all racers were required to cross Puntilla Lake. The shorter section of trail was reported to be tighter with potential avalanche danger as a possible reason for the new requirement.
As a testament to the tight-knit nature of the race, Eric Christensen of Team 45 had a bad crash last night. Collin Clayton of Team 24 was first to recognize the accident, lent both racers a hand, and gave Eric his jacket to wear. Good sportsmanship isn't new to the race and kudos to Team 24 for taking their precious course time and stretching it a bit to help a fellow team.
Team 14 was also immediately doing maintenance as the clock started today, replacing a rear track shock that was blown on one of their Polaris sleds. The part was borrowed from a local in McGrath and as often happens, will be sent back once the race is done. The locals along the trail and all the volunteers are an incredibly important cog in the complex machine that makes this race happen every year!
The last Arctic Cat team on the trail, Team 23 from Minnesota, ran into a broken drive shaft caused from a failed motor mount. Luckily they had one on their parts plane where they'll be working to get back on the trail. The duo got the machine into a shop and discovered more motor damage but are shooting for a departure sometime tonight
It's pretty evident that Team 20 made it through the burn unscathed as their speeds are back up into the 40mph range as Teams 5, 39, and 4 had speeds ranging from 0mph all the way up to 4.8mph, likely stopped for cooling or looking for some relief from elevated engine temps. All racers will be held at Whiskey Bravo for a mid-morning finish tomorrow.