After dominating much of the race, Team 20’s Bradley George and Robby Schachle roared to the finish line of the 2025 Iron Dog side-by-side as they pumped their fists in the air.
George and Schachle established themselves as the team to beat early in the race. The duo powered through the grueling Farewell Burn, a relatively snowless stretch of 60 miles, and reached the Nikolai checkpoint an hour ahead of the next fastest team. The 'burn' forced teams across the field to take extended breaks to allow their machines to cool.
Team 20 went on to be the first to reach Kotzebue and the midway point in Nome, but the veterans’ run didn’t come without challenges.
About 20 miles before the Nome checkpoint, George hit a berm and flew off the side of a bridge. After what he approximated was a 15 foot fall, he found himself wedged between two boulders. His machine took some damage, but the crew was able to repair them before the return trip to Big Lake.
“There's a lot of damage, and I thought there would have been more,” George said in Nome Tuesday. “We'd had such a clean run and to do something like that, those are the stupid mistakes that take you out of the race.”
With the accident behind them, Team 20’s southbound trip was relatively clean. They reached the mandatory overnight stop at Whiskey Bravo Friday almost an hour ahead of Team 14.
The team reached the Big Lake finish with an unofficial course time of 53:32:56. Iron Dog Executive Director, Mike Vasser, handed a microphone to George moments after crossing the finish.
“Thank you to everybody that put this together, for making this happen, supported us, sponsored us," George said. "Thank you guys so much for making this happen, this is awesome."
This is Team 20's second championship—their first came in 2021 while riding as Team 6. That year they came from behind and finished just four minutes ahead of Team 14, who was in position for second in this year's event. Both wins for Team 20 came on Ski-Doo sleds.
The team will take home $80,000 for winning the 2025 Iron Dog. They also picked up contingency prizes valued at $10,500 at the Halfway Banquet in Nome, as well as two sealskin hats handmade by Ida May Richards. The hats were awarded to the fastest Pro Class team to reach Kotzebue and were donated in honor of Richards’ late husband, Bob Richards.
