Scenes From the 2021 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race

Alan Taylor
March 15, 2021
25 Photos
In Focus

Earlier this morning, Dallas Seavey and his team crossed the finish line near Willow, Alaska, to win the 2021 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, claiming his fifth title. Seavey is now tied with Rick Swenson, the only other musher to have won five titles. This year, due to the ongoing pandemic, the race took place on a modified 832-mile course called the Gold Trail Loop, staying in the wilderness, avoiding villages, and forgoing the normal ceremonial start in Anchorage. Forty-six mushers started the race near the town of Willow on March 7, and Seavey and his team crossed the finish line early on March 15, after seven days and 14 hours of mushing.

An earlier version of this photo essay misstated the gender of an Iditarod participant in one of the photos. Additionally, another caption previously misidentified the type of medicine transported to Nome in 1925. The captions have been corrected.

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Paige Drobny's team runs at the beginning of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Willow, Alaska, on March 7, 2021. #

Nathaniel Wilder / Reuters

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Christopher Parker, a rookie from Fairbanks, leaves the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race starting line at Deshka Landing in Willow, on March 7, 2021. #

Marc Lester / ADN via Reuters

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Larry Daugherty, a musher from Eagle River, holds empty packages of COVID-19 vaccines, which he will carry with him on the trail in a nod to the 1925 serum run to Nome, which relied on a relay of dog teams to bring diphtheria antitoxin to save a village from disease, at Deshka Landing on March 7, 2021. #

Marc Lester via Reuters

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Dallas Seavey leans over for a high five at the start of the 2021 Iditarod on March 7, 2021. #

Marc Lester / ADN via Reuters

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Mille Porsild and her team pass by Camp Flamingo on the Susitna River on March 7, 2021. #

Bill Roth / ADN via Reuters

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Matt Hall drives his dog team over the Susitna River on March 7, 2021. #

Bill Roth / ADN via Reuters

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Ryne Olson and team, photographed in action at the beginning of the 2021 Iditarod in Willow, on March 7, 2021 #

Nathaniel Wilder / Reuters

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Susannah Tuminelli's team runs in Willow on March 7, 2021. #

Nathaniel Wilder / Reuters

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Victoria Hardwick feeds her dog team at the Finger Lake checkpoint on March 8, 2021. #

Zachariah Hughes / ADN via Reuters

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Pete Kaiser naps under his coat during a stop, high in the Alaska Range in Rainy Pass, on March 8, 2021. #

Zachariah Hughes / ADN via Reuters

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Matt Failor drives his dog team, in Rainy Pass, Alaska, on March 8, 2021. #

Zachariah Hughes / ADN via Reuters

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Rows of dog teams rest on straw, as seen in an aerial photograph taken above the Ophir checkpoint on March 10, 2021. #

Zachariah Hughes / ADN via Reuters

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Ryne Olson sits with her seven-year-old dog Dolly, named after Dolly Parton, at the Ophir checkpoint on March 10, 2021. #

Zachariah Hughes / ADN via Reuters

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Jeremy Traska spreads blankets over his dogs after the wind picked up in McGrath, Alaska, on March 10, 2021. #

Zachariah Hughes / Anchorage Daily News via AP

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The four-time champion Dallas Seavey massages his dogs and rubs their paws at the McGrath checkpoint on March 12, 2021. #

Zachariah Hughes / ADN via Reuters

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Paige Drobny arrives at Ophir to rest with her dogs on the inbound trail on March 12, 2021. #

Zachariah Hughes / ADN via Reuters

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The 2018 champion, Joar Leifseth Ulsom, a native Norwegian who lives full-time in Alaska, leaves the Ophir checkpoint with his dog team as a small plane takes off from the runway on March 12, 2021. #

Zachariah Hughes / ADN via Reuters

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Chad Stoddard has his photo taken as he handles dog-care chores at the McGrath checkpoint on March 13, 2021. #

Zachariah Hughes / Anchorage Daily News via AP

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Mushers handle their dog care on a cold morning at the McGrath checkpoint on March 13, 2021. #

Zachariah Hughes / Anchorage Daily News via AP

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Joar Leifseth Ulsom mushes across Finger Lake on March 14, 2021. #

Loren Holmes / ADN via Reuters

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Richie Diehl mushes up the first part of the Happy River Steps on March 14, 2021. #

Loren Holmes / ADN via Reuters

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Joar Leifseth Ulsom puts booties on his dogs before leaving the Finger Lake checkpoint on March 14, 2021. #

Loren Holmes / ADN via Reuters

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Aaron Burmeister mushes near Shell Lake on March 14, 2021. #

Loren Holmes / ADN via Reuters

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Dallas Seavey's team runs into the chute at the finish line to win his fifth Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race at Deshka Landing, near Willow, Alaska, on March 15, 2021. #

Marc Lester / ADN via Reuters

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Dallas Seavey poses with his dogs, North and Gamble, after crossing the finish line in first place on March 15, 2021. #

Marc Lester / ADN via Reuters

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