After a Difficult Year, Scandal-Plagued Iditarod Seeks ‘New Blood’
![Aaron Burmeister at the Ceremonial Start, Iditarod 2014](https://knom.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/2014-03-01-iditarod-cerem-start-479-2432px-1200x800.jpg)
A December report by the nonprofit Foraker Group found major flaws within the Iditarod Trail Committee, which plans and oversees the thousand-mile sled dog race. Now, the ITC says it’s expanding its board. And several directors may resign.
With Eagle Island Stripped of 2018 “Checkpoint” Status, Iditarod Teams Brace for 130-Mile Haul to Kaltag
![Silhouette of musher wearing headlamp at night, looking down](https://knom.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/20180309-Aaron-Burmeister-during-a-quick-stop-at-the-Anvik-checkpoint-1200x800.jpg)
It wouldn’t be Iditarod without a little weather. And this year, that’s caused a critical checkpoint to all but shut down, forcing top teams to adapt their run-rest strategies amid the long, flat slog up the Yukon River.
Weather, Slow Trail Prompts Some Iditarod Mushers to “24” in McGrath
![Aerial landscape of the Nikolai checkpoint.](https://knom.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/20180306-Nikolai-and-checkpoint-from-the-air-1200x800.jpg)
With continued snowfall making the trail soft and slow, some Iditarod mushers elected to take their 24 hour layovers at McGrath in the hopes that the trail would improve during their mandatory day’s rest. The long rest can be an opportunity for teams to “regroup,” as Ryan Redington described.
Iditarod to Tighten Race Trail Security, Rewrite “Gag Rule”
![](https://knom.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/2015-03-15-Iditarod-KUK-to-UNK-MSeavey-stopped-2432px-1200x800.jpg)
The Iditarod Trail Committee (ITC) is taking steps to tighten security along the race route in the near future. The move comes after October’s announcement that four dogs on four-time champion Dallas Seavey’s team tested positive for the prohibited painkiller tramadol at the end of the 2017 race.
2017 Kobuk 440 Starts Today
![Racers At The Starting Line of the 2016 Kobuk 440 Photo: Emily Schwing, KNOM.](https://knom.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/image2-2432px.jpg)
Kobuk 440 race coordinator Carmen Daggett says the first teams are expected to cross the finish line in Kotzebue sometime late Sunday or early Monday.