For Wally Robinson, Iditarod 52 marks return to race after more than two decades

RUBY, Alaska (KTUU) - As teams barrel toward the coast in the 52nd running of the Iditarod, the lead pack has made it to Nulato — around mile 582 — including a musher who found out he would be on the trail not even a month before the start of the race.

Walter “Wally” Robinson, an Iditarod veteran out of Nenana, is running Josh McNeal’s team this year after McNeal sustained an injury that subsequently sidelined him from the race.

“I guess it must’ve been about three-and-a-half weeks,” Robinson said. “I did a few different series of runs with the dogs, and then he made a real detailed list for me... The dogs are real friendly, and it’s worked out well.”

According to Robinson’s Iditarod page, “Josh needed a musher to take his place, and asked his friend Wally if he would run the team. Wally will be running with the goal of giving Josh and Jobie a happy, healthy dog team at the finish line.”

During interviews at multiple checkpoints, Robinson repeatedly said he’s been pleasantly surprised by how well the team is doing.

“I didn’t know what to expect, but they’re performing well,” he said, speaking while tending to his dogs in Ruby. “It’s been a blast.”

Other mushers seem impressed with how well Robinson himself is doing.

“I think Walter Robinson is doing a really great job,” said veteran musher Matt Failor, who also stopped in Ruby to give his dogs a break. “For a team that’s not his? He must be a really good dog driver.”

Veteran Aaron Burmeister and defending Iditarod Champion Ryan Redington reflected at the same checkpoint on Robinson’s rookie racing class – of which they are both a part – while 2019 winner Pete Kaiser spoke of how Robinson stands out in the group of frontrunners.

“Wally Robinson pulls in with a team that he signed on to drive last-minute,” Kaiser explained. “And, wow! He’s doing awesome. He’s up here in the front, got a huge team of dogs. Pretty darn impressive.

“I told him that yesterday in Cripple when I saw him, how impressed I was with him getting here with a team like that,” he added. “Shows he knows how to manage dogs, whether they’re his or somebody else’s. So, pretty cool to have him in here.”

When Robinson first and last raced, back in 2001, he notched a 40th-place finish in a finishing field of 57.

“Kinda fun being up here with some of my friends,” Robinson said, speaking on some of what he’s looking forward to for the rest of the race. “Nome would be the best spot to be – the finish. But, I like Unalakleet, and the run over to Unalakleet, across the Portage Trail.”

The veteran musher also spoke about his daughter, Emily, who won the last three Jr. Iditarod races and this year’s Knik 200.

At last check, Robinson was through Nulato and heading toward Kaltag, with veterans Travis Beals and Jessie Holmes having already reached that checkpoint. Also out of Nulato are Kaiser and Redington, five-time winner Dallas Seavey, and fellow veterans Matt Hall, Paige Drobny, Jason Mackey, and Hunter Keefe.

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