KNOM on the Trail

Extended Interview: Sebastian Schnuelle Talks Iditarod 2012

Matthew F. Smith — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 21:07:25 +0000

Sebastian Schnuelle is a musher who’s raced the Iditarod and the Yukon Quest. But he wasn’t mushing in Iditarod this year: instead, he followed the mushers along the trail on a snowmachine, sharing his experiences through blogs, Facebook posts, and photographs.

Now retired from competitive mushing, he has unique insight into how mushers approach the Last Great Race. He says he saw Dallas Seavey setting himself up for victory as early as the Yukon. Sebastian talks about the top three mushers in Iditarod 40 – Dallas Seavey, Aliy Zirkle, and Ramey Smyth – as well as Pete Kaiser, John Baker, Aaron Burmeister, and Mike Williams, Jr. He also discusses how he came to be an “armchair musher” for the Iditarod and Yukon Quest, as well as the bond between a musher and the dogs:

Note: this is the extended form of the Profile that aired on KNOM on Friday, March 16. You can hear the shortened, broadcast version of this interview on our news website.

Photos: Martin and Rohn Buser Finish Iditarod Together

David Dodman — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 20:15:58 +0000

In 18th and 19th place – and just one second apart – father and son Martin and Rohn Buser crossed under Nome’s Burled Arch Thursday morning.

Rohn Buser finished in 18th place in Iditarod 2012 - just one second ahead of his father, former champion Martin Buser.

Minutes after crossing the finish line - one second apart - multiple-time champion Martin Buser (facing the camera) embraces his son, Rohn, who is not only a musher in the Iditarod but also named after one of its checkpoints.

Two generations of Buser mushers - Martin and his son, Rohn - share some time under the Burled Arch a few minutes after crossing the Iditarod finish line in Nome.

While its musher interviews with the press, one of the dogs from the Buser kennel curiously eyes the cameras pointed in its direction.

Brent Sass, Rookie of the Year (photos and audio)

David Dodman — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 05:04:00 +0000

Brent Sass is the Rookie of the Year of Iditarod 2012, the first rookie to pull under the Burled Arch.

Sass – a veteran of the Yukon Quest, another long-distance sled dog race in Alaska – took 13th place in this year’s Iditarod, pulling to the finish line at 11:25am Wednesday morning.

Hear our live coverage of Brent Sass’ Iditarod finish and explore the photo gallery, below, of his team at the finish line:

Click to view slideshow.

Under the Burled Arch, Hear Finishers 5 to 10

David Dodman — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 21:56:50 +0000

It’s been a busy Wednesday on Nome’s Front Street, as Iditarod mushers have continued to arrive: throughout the early morning hours and past daybreak.

From sunset to sunrise, our reporters have been there to greet the top finishers of the Last Great Race. Hear our live finishes of 5th through 10th place:

Peter Kaiser of Bethel, Alaska – 5th Place

Ray Redington, Jr. of Wasilla, Alaska – 6th Place

Mitch Seavey of Seward, Alaska – 7th Place

Michael Williams, Jr. of Akiak, Alaska – 8th Place

John Baker of Kotzebue, Alaska – 9th Place

DeeDee Jonrowe of Willow, Alaska – 10th Place

Live Iditarod Finishes: Seavey, Zirkle, Smyth

David Dodman — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 08:31:17 +0000

It was an exciting Tuesday night in Nome, as the first three finishers in the 2012 Iditarod – Dallas Seavey, Aliy Zirkle, and Ramey Smyth – pulled under the Burled Arch.

Hear our live, finish-line coverage of all three finishes. There’s lots more to come – including photos.

Iditarod champion Dallas Seavey receives the novelty key for his brand-new truck: one of the prizes of finishing the Last Great Race first.

Dallas Seavey of Willow, Alaska – 2012 Iditarod Champion

Aliy Zirkle of Two Rivers, Alaska – 2nd Place

Ramey Smyth of Willow, Alaska – 3rd Place

SEAVEY WINS

David Dodman — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 03:27:27 +0000

The Seavey legacy continues: Dallas Seavey, the son of former champion Mitch Seavey, has just won the 2012 Iditarod. At 25 years old, he is the youngest musher ever to win the Last Great Race.

Just moments ago, Dallas Seavey and his sled dog team mushed up Nome’s Front Street and pulled under the Burled Arch.

Congratulations to Dallas Seavey, your 2012 Iditarod champion!

Lots more to come – stay tuned.

Nome Could See 2012 Champ Around 6 or 7pm

David Dodman — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 23:18:24 +0000

Nome, Alaska is abuzz with all things Iditarod today. Our population has swelled with tourists, race officials and other visitors, and on many of their minds is a single question: when?

Predicting Iditarod finishes is always tricky. A ballpark figure for the White Mountain-Nome run is 10 hours (7 hours to the Safety checkpoint, then 3 more to Nome), but this can vary depending on high winds – for which this stretch of trail is notorious – as well as the close standings of the top mushers. If there’s a close race between them, it’s a good bet that the mushers will make the run to the Burled Arch in less time.

As of 3pm, Iditarod’s own GPS tracker shows Dallas Seavey with a substantial – but by no means definitive – lead, with Aliy Zirkle about 10 miles behind him on the trail to Safety.

Judging both by the GPS tracker and historical run times, we might expect Seavey to pass through Safety sometime around 3:30 or 4pm.

If all continues as expected, Dallas Seavey could arrive at the finish line sometime between 6 and 7pm, Tuesday night.

Ultimately, however, this is a race, and even with just hours to go, anything can still happen. All bets are off until we have a musher on Front Street.

On-Air Update: Monday, March 12 (5pm)

David Dodman — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 03:44:50 +0000

With perhaps as little as 24 hours to go until the 2012 championship finish, Ric Schmidt and Ben Matheson review the leaderboard – especially the mushers out of Koyuk and into/out of Elim – in Monday night’s 5pm Iditarod Update:

In Unalakleet: Braxton Peterson, Keeping Pace with His Mentor

David Dodman — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 03:04:37 +0000

“It feels good,” Braxton Peterson says, to be in Unalakleet: not least because he shared time in the checkpoint with four-time Iditarod champion Lance Mackey.

Peterson – a rookie of the Last Great Race and a protégé of the Mackey kennel – talked with KNOM trail reporter Laureli Kinneen in Unalakleet, where he said that his race is going well overall. Peterson said he had some difficulty on the trail from Kaltag, during which he had to “coach” his dogs along.

Peterson also shared his thoughts on the makeup of his dog team, his hopes for the remainder of the 2012 race (he’s hoping for a finish in the top 30), and his plans for dog mushing beyond 2012. After the grueling effort of the Iditarod, he said he was in need of a break: “I’m not done (mushing), but I’m done for a couple of months, for sure.”

Braxton Peterson arrived into Unalakleet at 3:56am Monday morning with 11 dogs. As of 7pm Monday night, he is not yet reported out of the checkpoint.

Colleen Robertia: “The dogs saved my life last night”

David Dodman — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 02:39:47 +0000

Colleen Robertia came into Unalakleet in need of rest and recuperation – both for herself and for her dogs.

She says she’s not accustomed to the colder weather of northwestern Alaska. The cold, dry climate of the last stretches of the Iditarod trail, Robertia says, can quickly dehydrate her sled dogs and freeze the moisture in her own breath.

It was a difficult, “disorienting” run from Kaltag, Robertia told KNOM trail reporter Laureli Kinneen. With tears in her eyes, the Kasilof, Alaska musher recounted her panic-inducing run, explaining how, in her view, her dogs “saved my life.”

Hear Colleen Robertia in Unalakleet:

Colleen Robertia left the Unalakleet checkpoint at exactly 12:00pm with 10 dogs.