30 teams will set off from Big Lake Saturday to kick off this year’s Iron Dog snowmachine race. The field is tied for the biggest since 2017, with the vast majority of racers hailing from Alaska.
First-year Iron Dog Executive Director, Rick Paquette, said the organization is buzzing from this year’s deep roster.
“We have five past champions. We have really fast young guys in the field. We have two father-son teams. We have a father-daughter team. It’s going to be a really exciting race, we’re super excited,” Paquette said.
Last year’s race was marked by snowless trail and overheating engines. Teams rode 60 miles across bare tundra and rock in an area known as the Farewell Burn, stopping periodically to heave what little snow they could find onto their engines to cool them down. By the end of the 2,503 mile course, Robby Schachle and Brad George were crowned champions.
Both are missing from this year’s field, but the roster is still full of familiar names. The Barber family, who has appeared in every Iron Dog since the first in 1984, will be represented by two teams. 13-time Iron Dog veteran Shane Barber is teaming up with his rookie daughter, Shana Lapham.
Shane Barber’s son, Evan Barber, will be riding alongside Steffen Booth from Nome. The 21 and 20 year olds made Iron Dog history one year after the other, with Evan claiming the title of youngest to compete in the race in 2021, only to be bested by Booth a year later.
This will be Evan Barber’s fourth Iron Dog, and first teaming up with Booth, who still considers himself an “experienced rookie”.
“We're not trying to put any expectations for this year. It's kind of like a learning year. It's been a while since I've done it, and I was 16 at the time,” Booth said. “I think everything will start coming back to me once I start getting out there as I'm racing with Evan.”
Nome on display
Also representing Nome is the father-son team of Chugie Farley and Kevin McDaniel-Farley. The 55 and 20 year old planned on racing the pro class last year, but a torn meniscus sidelined McDaniel-Farley.
This will be McDaniel-Farley’s longest race yet — over ten times the distance of the 200 mile Nome-Golovin race. To prepare, he said he’s been training his wrists and lower body to handle the grueling endurance race.
The two have also worked to put heavier springs on their sled’s shocks and reconfigure for lower gearing on their Ski-Doo machines ahead of the race. While the sleds are mostly identical, Chugie simply pointed to his son when asked who could run them faster.
The sleds have a custom gray and red wrap designed by Sierra Winter that features personal elements like the Seward Peninsula’s Kigluaik mountain range, red king crab, a bush plane and references to gold mining. McDaniel-Farley said his favorite feature is an illustration of his grandparents, Howard Farley and Julie Farley, waving from the back of one of the family’s crab boats.
“We're getting a lot of comments on it when we were at tech inspection. Everybody loved it,” McDaniel-Farley said. “That’s probably the best part, I like it a lot.”
Chugie said the team’s goal is to finish, but there’ll be plenty of moments along the way he will savor too.
“It's just so awesome when we hit Unalakleet and all the way up the coast. It’s just amazing how many people want to tell you ‘good luck’ and tell you the right way to go,” Chugie said.
Deep field of veterans
This year’s field is filled with former champions. Two-time Iron Dog champion, Mike Morgan, will be back with Bradley Kishbaugh for the third straight year. Morgan’s former teammate, Chris Olds, will be back for his 24th Iron Dog, this time with fellow veteran Ryan Sottosanti. Four-time champion Todd Palin, who earned his first win in 1995, is returning to the race for the 30th time with veteran Klinton VanWingerden.
“Keep an eye on Todd Palin, this could possibly be his last race as well,” Paquette said. “He deserves all the credit in the world. He's done a lot for this sport and a lot for this race. That's great to see him back healthy and back out for the race.”
2025 runners-up, Casey Boylan and Bryan Leslie are also back in the mix for this year’s race and will look to earn their first championship. Veteran race winners Tyler Aklestad and Nick Olstad will also return to the trail.
The 2026 route
This year’s 2,318 mile course will take teams from the Big Lake start northwest to Kotzebue before dipping down to Nome for a one-day layover. Teams will get a chance to work on their sleds before making the journey across the interior to this year’s finish in Fairbanks.
Paquette said the Fairbanks finish wasn’t inspired by last year’s poor weather. Instead, he viewed it as an opportunity to bring the race to another part of the state, which hasn’t hosted the finish since 2019.
“This was more of going back to where we've gone before and spreading the love throughout the state,” Paquette said.
This year’s Iron Dog will kick off from Big Lake at 10 Saturday, Feb. 14 with the teams leaving the start line in two minute increments. The field is expected to finish in Fairbanks the following Saturday.
