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ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Ryan Redington on Tuesday won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, bringing his six dogs off the Bering Sea ice to the finish line on Nome’s main street.
Redington, 40, is the grandson of Joe Redington Sr., known as the “Father of the Iditarod.” He helped co-found the arduous race across Alaska that was first held in 1973.
“My grandpa, dad and Uncle Joee are all in the Mushing Hall of Fame. I got big footsteps to follow,” Ryan Redington wrote in his race biography. He previously won the Junior Iditarod in 1999 and 2000. His father, Raymie, is a 10-time Iditarod finisher.
Redington, who is Inupiat, becomes the sixth Alaska Native musher to win the world’s most famous sled dog race.
The nearly 1,000-mile (1,609-kilometer) race started March 5 in Willow for 33 mushers, who traveled over two mountain ranges, the frozen Yukon River and on the Bering Sea ice. Since then, three mushers have scratched. A fan-friendly ceremonial start was held in Anchorage the day before.
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It was the smallest field ever to start a race, one short of the first race run.
Among those who scratched was defending champion Brent Sass, who was leading when he withdrew Saturday over concerns for his health. because of periodontal issues.
He was doing OK and resting in the community of Unalakleet, he posted on Instagram Sunday. The Iditarod was caring for his dogs, he said.
Sass said he had been sick the entire race with a bad cold. Then on Friday “some cracked teeth started giving me issues and over a 12-hour period turned into nearly unbearable pain,” he said. “My body basically shutdown and for two runs I just hung on. Ultimately I couldn’t care for the dogs.“
He said the colder temperatures, dipping to minus 30 F (minus 34 C), were making his dog team stronger, but it made him weaker.
For the first part of the race, mushers dealt with high temperatures, causing some to alter their strategies.
Redington will earn about $50,000 for winning. The exact amount won’t be calculated until the total number of finishers are known to split the prize purse.
Besides Redington, the two mushers chasing him to Nome are also Alaska Natives, Pete Kaiser, who is Yup’ik and won the 2019 Iditarod, and Richie Diehl, who is Dena’ina Athbascan.
Redington won the Iditarod in his 16th try. He scratched from seven of those races, but his performance this decade has been the best of his career. He finished ninth last year, seventh in 2021 and eighth in 2020 — his only other top 10 finishes before this year’s race.
Redington splits his time between Alaska and Wisconsin. He trains his dogs in Brule, Wisconsin, in the fall and winter. He races in Alaska and Minnesota beginning in December. In the summers, he has a sled dog tour for tourists in the ski community of Girdwood, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Anchorage.
In January 2022, Redington was training in northern Wisconsin when a snowmobile driver veered into his dog team, injuring two dogs, before speeding off.
One of the dogs, Wildfire, suffered a broken rear tibia, fibula and femur but recovered after multiple surgeries and started this year’s race. However, Redington dropped him at the checkpoint in Skwentna a day after the official start.
“His heart was there, but he was just a little sore,” Redington told the Iditarod Insider webpage.
Photos: Iditarod 2023

FILE – Ryan Redington heads out after stopping briefly at the Iditarod checkpoint of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on March 11, 2021. The winner of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race pockets only about $50,000, but the real prize is a bronze statue of race co-founder Joe Redington Sr. embracing a sled dog under the iconic burled arch finish line. Ever since the first grueling Iditarod race across the Alaska wilderness, mushers with the last name Redington have lined up 71 times to win that trophy.

FILE – Rob Urbach, CEO of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, poses Feb. 10, 2022, in Wasilla, Alaska, next to the trophy that is presented to the winner of the world’s most famous sled dog race. The winner of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race pockets only about $50,000, but the real prize is a bronze statue of race co-founder Joe Redington Sr. embracing a sled dog under the iconic burled arch finish line.

FILE – Ryan Redington, a musher from Wasilla, Alaska, and grandson of one of the race founders, Joe Redington Sr., greets fans while taking his sled dogs through a snowstorm in downtown Anchorage, Alaska, on March 5, 2022, during the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. The winner of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race pockets only about $50,000, but the real prize is a bronze statue of race co-founder Joe Redington Sr. embracing a sled dog under the iconic burled arch finish line. Ever since the first grueling Iditarod race across the Alaska wilderness, mushers with the last name Redington have lined up 71 times to win that trophy.

FILE – Defending champion Brent Sass, wearing bib No. 14, waves to the crowd during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race’s ceremonial start in downtown Anchorage, Alaska, on Saturday, March 4, 2023. Sass withdrew from this year’s race, Saturday, March 11, 2023, citing concerns for his health.

Musher Richie Diehl, wearing big No. 15, mushes down Fourth Avenue during the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Saturday, March 4, 2023, in Anchorage, Alaska. Warm weather is making it tough sledding for mushers in this year’s Iditarod, and Diehl said the conditions could be “soft and punchy.”

Musher Richie Diehl takes one of his dogs back to it’s his trailer before the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Saturday, March 4, 2023, in Anchorage, Alaska. Warm weather is making it tough sledding for mushers in this year’s Iditarod, and Diehl said the conditions could be “soft and punchy.”

Musher Nic Petit, wearing big No. 9, mushes down Fourth Avenue during the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Saturday, March 4, 2023, in Anchorage, Alaska. Warm weather is making it tough sledding for mushers in this year’s Iditarod, and Petit said he likes “hot dogs, just not my dog as a hot dog.”

Defending champion Brent Sass, wearing bib No. 14, waves to the crowd during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race’s ceremonial start in downtown Anchorage, Alaska, on Saturday, March 4, 2023. The smallest field ever of only 33 mushers will start the competitive portion of the Iditarod Sunday, March 5, 2023, in Willow, Alaska.

Attentive sled dogs await the start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race’s ceremonial start in downtown Anchorage, Alaska, on Saturday, March 4, 2023. The smallest field ever of only 33 mushers will start the competitive portion of the Iditarod Sunday, March 5, 2023, in Willow, Alaska.

The lead dogs for musher Bailey Vitello of Milan, New Hampshire, run down Fourth Avenue during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race’s ceremonial start in downtown Anchorage, Alaska, on Saturday, March 4, 2023. The smallest field ever of only 33 mushers will start the competitive portion of the Iditarod Sunday, March 5, 2023, in Willow, Alaska.

Ryan Redington, whose grandfather Joe Redington Sr. helped start the Iditarod in 1973, mushes down Fourth Avenue during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race’s ceremonial start in downtown Anchorage, Alaska, on Saturday, March 4, 2023. The smallest field ever of only 33 mushers will start the competitive portion of the Iditarod Sunday, March 5, 2023, in Willow, Alaska.

Defending champion Brent Sass mushes his dog team down Fourth Avenue during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race’s ceremonial start in downtown Anchorage, Alaska, on Saturday, March 4, 2023. The smallest field ever of only 33 mushers will start the competitive portion of the Iditarod Sunday, March 5, 2023, in Willow, Alaska.

Cece Boyle, who works for musher Mille Porsild of Denmark, gets kisses from two of Porsild’s dogs before the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race’s ceremonial start in downtown Anchorage, Alaska, on Saturday, March 4, 2023. The smallest field ever of only 33 mushers will start the competitive portion of the Iditarod Sunday, March 5, 2023, in Willow, Alaska.

Musher Jessie Holmes of Brushkana, Alaska, waves to the crowd during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race’s ceremonial start in downtown Anchorage, Alaska, on Saturday, March 4, 2023. The smallest field ever of only 33 mushers will start the competitive portion of the Iditarod Sunday, March 5, 2023, in Willow, Alaska.
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