CNBNews

Hi, ADN Iditarod fans,

The Iditarod has now recorded its first (and so far only) dog death of the 2024 race.

Details are still emerging, but the Iditarod Trail Committee said that a 2-year-old dog named Bog, on rookie Isaac Teaford's team, collapsed about 200 feet from the checkpoint in Nulato on the Yukon River. A veterinarian approached the team and CPR was administered, according to race officials, but the dog died. A necropsy will be performed.

Teaford scratched as a result of the dog's death. Under the Iditarod's Rule 42, in the event of a dog death, a musher may voluntarily scratch; they could be withdrawn from competition by race officials; or, if the race marshal determines the dog died due to an "unpreventable hazard," the musher could still be eligible to compete. 

Teaford, who was running a team of sled dogs from Dallas Seavey's kennel, is one of three mushers to scratch Sunday, after a week without a single scratch. The two others are also rookies: Erin Altemus and Connor McMahon. Both decided to scratch in the best interest of their teams, according to the Iditarod Trail Committee.

We'll continue to report on the dog's death as more information becomes available.

In terms of the competition, Seavey — who left Unalakleet early this afternoon — has pulled slightly ahead of the rest of the front pack, but the other mushers are close behind. Chief among them is Jessie Holmes, who has departed from Unalakleet and is hoping to gain an advantage over the rest of the field.

One surprise development: Travis Beals, who held a tenuous lead through much of the middle stretch of the race, was shut down on the run from Kaltag to Unalakleet. His team took a little over 22 hours on that segment of trail, compared to other front-pack mushers who'd made that run seven to eight hours faster. You can expect a story out of Unalakleet later this evening at ADN.com/iditarod.

Yesterday morning, competitors back at the Yukon River checkpoint of Galena talked to Alaska Public Media's Casey Grove about some of the challenges that deep cold can bring. Pulling out the parkas they've barely needed to use this race, mushers bundled up. So did their dogs.

There's “a lot more dog care involved,” veteran musher Jessie Royer said. “And then a lot of clothes for us to wear. So much clothes. Yeah, so much to keep track of.”

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