Martin Buser

by The Associated Press Monday, January 18, 2010 FAIRBANKS, Alaska -- John Baker brushed aside wind chills of more than 60 below to win the Kuskokwim 300 sled dog race in Bethel. Baker crossed the finish line Sunday evening with a team of 10 dogs in harness. He beat former Iditarod champion Martin Buser by more than an hour to take the top prize of $20,000. Three-time defending Iditarod champ Lance Mackey finished third. It was the first Kusko 300 win for Baker, who has been mushing dogs for 15 years and runs a 35-dog kennel in Kotzebue.

Four-time Iditarod champion Martin Buser took the lead in the Last Great Race across Alaska Tuesday morning, after Mackey had left Rohn in the top position. Earlier in the morning, Buser wasn’t even in the Top 10 heading out of Rohn. Following Buser into Nikolai was Robert Bundtzen, Hugh Neff, Ray Redington Jr. and Lance Mackey, all within a half-hour of each other. The remaining of the Top 40 mushers in the Iditarod race have gone through Rohn towards Nikolai, 75 miles away.

The baton in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is being passed Friday as the previous leaders take a mandatory 24-hour layover -- clearing the trail for mushers who have already taken one. As of 8:30 a.m. Friday Sebastian Schnuelle, one of the mushers with a completed layover, was leading the race out of Anvik. Several mushers reached the Yukon River checkpoint before him: Hugh Neff claimed a seven-course meal and $3,500 for being first into Anvik at 5:26 a.m., closely followed by a field of five others including four-time champions Lance Mackey and Martin Buser.

Four-time Iditarod champ Martin Buser still holds the lead in the Last Great Race, while other mushers rest in Nikolai. The Top seven mushers have left Nikolai, according to the Iditarod’s standings page, many after three or four hours of rest. Sebastian Schnuelle left a little more than 30 minutes after Buser. Defending champion Lance Mackey left the checkpoint in third place, after dropping three dogs in the checkpoint. He had dropped his famous lead-dog, Maple, who was not in the leader spot this time around, in Rohn.

STORY UPDATED AT 7:19 p.m. 3/9/13: Aliy Zirkle pulls ahead and now finds herself in first place, checking out of Kaltag at 6:11 p.m. Saturday. Zirkle spent only 19 minutes at the last spot on the Yukon River and dropped two dogs, leaving her with 11 dogs on the trail to Unalakleet. A fifth musher has scratched in the Iditarod at the Iditarod checkpoint. Race officials said veteran musher Michael Suprenant officially scratched at 1:40 p.m. Saturday out of concern for his 12 dogs.

Idaho musher Trent Herbst was the first musher to the halfway point of the Iditarod, the fittingly-named Iditarod checkpoint, but while he leads the race on the trail, he won't for long. Herbst, Kelley Griffin and Cim Smyth all surpassed the lead pack Wednesday, but while they continued on the trail, about 30 other mushers took their mandatory 24-hour layovers and are now back on the trail. Herbst and Griffin are in Iditarod, according to the Iditarod’s standings page, and Smyth is on the trail from Ophir to Iditarod.

STORY UPDATED AT 10:46 p.m. 3/4/13: 27 teams made their way into Rohn Monday and many of the top contenders decided to keep going towards Nikolai about 75 miles away. 11 teams checked out of Rohn led by Paul Gebhardt and Aliy Zirkle. Both teams departed around 7:30 p.m. Monday, with Gebhardt having a four-minute jumpstart. Martin Buser and Matt Failor were the first teams into Rohn, however both opted to take their 24-hour layover. Top 10 race standing just before 11 p.m. Monday: 1              Paul Gebhardt 2              Aliy Zirkle 3              Jeff King 4              Michelle Phillips 5              Mitch Seavey 6              Ray Redington Jr 7              Ken Anderson 8              Nicolas Petit 9              Peter Kaiser 10            Jake Berkowitz Editor's Note: KTUU's Neil Torquiano contributed to the Monday night update.

A new lead pack has emerged on the Iditarod trail, with four mushers pressing on past Wednesday's lead pack, which remained in Takotna Wednesday afternoon. The four top mushers are now in Ophir. Now leading the Last Great Race is Robert Nelson of Kotzebue, who just briefly stopped in Takotna and has now checked into Ophir. Behind him in a tight pack -- three mushers in four minutes -- are Trent Herbst and Cim Smyth. Kelley Griffin came into Ophir just nine minutes behind the pack.

by The Associated Press Thursday, March 12, 2009 TAKOTNA, Alaska --  Aaron Burmeister  took the lead in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Thursday heading from Ophir to the ghost town of Iditarod . And a Norwegian musher had to abandon the race after a sled accident that organizers say probably left him with internal injuries. Burmeister is running his 12th Iditarod. He was first out of Ophir, a trail checkpoint 687 miles from the finish in Nome.

Iditarod musher Robert Bundtzen took the lead on the Iditarod trail Monday as he passed race leaders who were stopped in Rainy Pass and was the first musher to Rohn. Bundtzen, who has run the race 12 times, checked in to Rohn at 5:17 p.m. Monday. Racers have not yet had their times adjusted due to the staggered start. Joining Bundtzen on the trail towards Rohn just under an hour later was Paul Gebhardt, who stopped in Rainy Pass for more than four hours. Lance Mackey, Ray Redington Jr., Sebastian Schnuelle and Hans Gatt all also stopped at the checkpoint for hours.