2024 Iron Dog: 40th running of snowmobile race features past champs and plenty of family ties

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Dozens of snowmachines will hit the throttle and ride out of Big Lake Saturday morning to begin an eight-day, 2,500-mile journey across Alaska’s terrain.

Some may call the race crazy, others just call it the Iron Dog.

This year’s race includes competitors from all across Alaska as well as New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Nevada, Utah and Minnesota.

For the 40th race, 23 Pro Class teams will leave at 10 a.m. followed by 38 Expedition Class riders, headed west on a trail that stops in over a dozen villages and cities like McGrath, Ruby, Unalakleet, Noorvik, Kotzebue and Nome. The halfway ceremonies are slated for Wednesday in Nome before the Pro Team restart the following day begins the long journey back to Big Lake for a Sunday finish.

The race was created and first run in 1984, following the northern route of the historic Iditarod trail, and the route has had multiple iterations since then.

Last year’s race saw Team 7′s Tyler Aklestad and Nick Olstad repeat as champions, wrapping up a race that took them nearly 53 on-trail hours to complete. And with such success, including their first of three Iron Dog titles together in 2020, they are ready to run it back.

“Training has been pretty status quo for Nick and I, it is very regimented over the years, that is what has worked for us,” Aklestad said at the tech inspection and safety expo at the Menard Center. “We have had a few learning opportunities — we are on a new snowmobile this year, a new chassis, which is different than last year, so a whole new ergonomics. Some little pieces, nuts and bolts of it, are a little different.”

Team 7 could become just the second duo to three-peat in Iron Dog’s rich history, while individually, Olstad is one title shy of tying the all-time record of seven.

“I still don’t think about it that way, just normal,” Olstad said of being in such an elite class. “The first win is the most important and the rest are history — but they’re all good.”

“We’ve always gone into it trying to win, that is why Nick and I are out here is to do the best we can,” Aklestad added. “If that possibly happens, what an awesome feat that would be.”

And age is just a number at the Iron Dog, with competitors this year as young as 17 and as wise as 61.

Haakon Wold and Tyler Reese of Team 41, both 19 years old, have a combined age that is younger than much of the field — and the race itself. Wold, of Wasilla, saw a top-10 finish with his father, Wayne, last year in his rookie run and now is leading the way on Team 41 with his buddy Reese, of Anchorage, who is taking his first crack at “the world’s longest, toughest snowmobile race.”

”It is pretty cool to have at such a young age, because not many people finish it,” Wold said of finishing at 18 years old. “I was training with my dad and learning stuff from him, so had the experience with me and this year I don’t have that.”

”A lot of these guys in here I have grown up looking up to them and it is cool to be amongst the same crowd racing against them,” Reese said. ”I have a cabin out in Big Lake so I’ve grown up ever since I can remember watching it and always wanted to do it ever since I started riding snowmachines. It’s kind of like a dream come true this year to be able to do it.”

The Iron Dog is also a family affair, with brothers Dustin and Dillan Dohrn of Minnesota on Team 17, the father-son duo of Team 48′s Paul and Kristofer Sindor as well as the father-son pairing of Chris and Austin Carroll on Team 18.

“Him and his buddy talked about doing Iron Dog so I figured before they turn 18 and go out on their own, that I would team up with him and try to get him as much experience as he can get,” said Chris, who has competed in the Iron Dog three times prior. “I am looking forward to it, it is going to be fun.”

Austin at 17 years old is the youngest rider in this year’s Iron Dog field.

”I was talking about [doing it] when I was in elementary school,” Austin said. “I am not super nervous yet, I think I might be on the [starting] line.”

Saturday’s start will be livestreamed by Alaska’s News Source starting at 9:30 a.m., with the official race start at 10 a.m. The Expedition Class start will be at 11:30 a.m.

The official start order of the 2024 Iron Dog can be found here, and you can follow the action of the race on alaskasnewssource.com.

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