Sebastian Schnuelle

Hugh Neff captured the halfway prize of the Yukon Quest Sled Dog Race on Tuesday, winning four ounces of gold as the first musher to arrive at race's halfway point of Dawson City, Yukon Territory. Neff checked into Dawson at 2:35 p.m. Alaska Time after a run of 12 hours and 57 minutes from Scroggie Creek, a distance of 99 miles. Four-time champion Hans Gatt arrived in Dawson in second place at 5:36 p.m. Alaska Time. Brent Sass, Sebastian Schnuelle and Ken Anderson left Scroggie Creek in first, fourth, and fifth positions, but Sass departed the dog drop after a rest of only three minutes.

Less than 24 hours after Iditarod mushers hit the trail from Willow, four-time defending champion Lance Mackey is already in the lead. Mackey, looking to set a new record of five back-to-back wins (he holds the record at four), started in 17th position Sunday, but has jumped up to first place, with a 24-minute lead over Ray Redington Jr. going into Rainy Pass – before compensating for staggered start times. Redington was the second musher out of the chute. The Iditarod website shows Mackey, Redington and Hugh Neff as checked into Rainy Pass, but no out time, and did not indicate whether the three were taking a layover just a day into the race.

by Channel 2 News staff Sunday, March 1, 2009 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- It was once thought to be impossible. Now Sebastian Schnuelle will try to disprove it's impossible for anyone not named Lance Mackey. Schnuelle, who won the grueling Yukon Quest on Feb. 24, will try to pull off his own version of the Mackey Miracle beginning Saturday as the 2009 Iditarod kicks off. Before Mackey did it in 2007, no musher had ever won the Quest and Iditarod in the same year.

The top five mushers in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race have finished in Nome, with two of them beating the race’s previous record, set in 2002. Kotzebue musher John Baker, the first Alaska Native Iditarod champion since 1976, holds the new record at 8 days, 18 hours, 46 minutes and 39 seconds. Baker, who is also the first-ever Inupiaq Iditarod champion, came into Nome at 9:46 a.m. He had to walk his dogs across the line after their zig-zagging path led to a tangle just feet from the famed burled arch.

Kotzebue  musher John Baker is still in the lead of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. He was the first musher to arrive in White Mountain, where mushers must take an 8-hour layover before continuing to Nome. Baker arrived in White Mountain just after 4 p.m. Iditarod spokesperson Chas St. George said Ramey Smyth had also checked into White Mountain, but his time has not yet been posted to the Iditarod site. Hans Gatt, Dallas Seavey, Hugh Neff and Sebastian Schnuelle have all made it to Elim, with Seavey passing through.

by Channel 2 News staff Thursday, March 12, 2009 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Two-time defending champion Lance Mackey has taken the lead in Iditarod 37 , leaving the ghost town of Iditarod with at least a 2 1/2-hour lead early Friday morning. Mackey overtook Aaron Burmeister and Hugh Neff in between Ophir and Iditarod to seize the lead Thursday afternoon and into the evening. According to Iditarod.com, Mackey pulled into Iditarod at 5:20 p.m. Thursday.

by Andrew Hinkelman Tuesday, March 9, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A familiar face is in front of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race . Jeff King , a four-time champion and the last person not named Mackey to win, was the first musher to pull into  Takotna  Tuesday evening. King arrived at 10:48 p.m. with all 16 dogs still on the line. King was also the first musher to reach McGrath, and stayed there just three minutes. Just about a half hour behind him there were  John Baker and Mitch Seavey , both of whom passed  Sebastian Schnuelle coming out of Nikolai.

Ken Anderson of Fox, Alaska was the first musher to reach the final checkpoint of the Yukon Quest Sled Dog Race early Tuesday, but he wasn't the first musher to leave.  Upon arriving in Two Rivers, Anderson was notified he would be penalized two hours for failing to properly check out of the Mile 101 dog drop on Monday evening.  The penalty was later reduced to 30 minutes, enough time to put Dallas Seavey of Willow in front of Anderson leaving Two Rivers, 75 miles from the finish in Fairbanks.

by Channel 2 News staff Tuesday, March 9, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A fifth musher has scratched from the 2010 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race . Rookie Pat Moon scratched after crashing his sled in the Dalzell Gorge Tuesday. Fellow racer Sam Deltour came upon Moon and his team after the crash, and Moon was still unconscious. As Deltour checked on Moon's team, Moon regained consciousness. Moon was transported to Anchorage, where Moon was taken to Providence for a checkup.

Temperatures of 40 degrees below zero, significant overflow on the trail, and reported high winds on Eagle Summitt have slowed the pace of the 2011 Yukon Quest.  Not only that, there is a new leader. Hugh Neff, who led the race from day one, got caught up in a storm while traversing the treacherous Eagle Summitt on Monday evening, and was passed by both Sebastian Schnuelle and Ken Anderson.  According to the race's website, a snowmachine was on its way to the summitt to locate Neff and his team.