ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – The Latest on the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race (all times local):
12:10 p.m.
Officials with the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race say an injured dog that died while being flown to Anchorage showed signs of overheating.
The 2-year-old male dog on musher Scott Smith’s team died Friday while in transit from the Galena checkpoint.
Smith dropped the dog, Smoke, from the team Tuesday because of a wrist injury.
Race Marshal Mark Nordman says in a news release that necropsy findings were consistent with hyperthermia, though further testing will be conducted.
The release says the sequence of events that contributed to the warm temperature in the aircraft are being reviewed.
The Iditarod across nearly 1,000 miles of wilderness started March 6 in Fairbanks.
Animal advocates say the race can be deadly for dogs, and the animals are forced to run. But supporters say it celebrates world-class canine athletes that have been conditioned to perform at the highest levels.
8 a.m.
A father and son have taken the lead in Alaska’s Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
Two-time champion Mitch Seavey was the first musher to leave the village of Kaltag on Sunday. But his son, current Iditarod champion Dallas Seavey, was close behind.
Mitch Seavey departed the checkpoint at 4:40 a.m., while Dallas Seavey left just five minutes later.
The third racer out of Kaltag was veteran musher Wade Marrs of Alaska, who took off at 5:28 a.m.
Behind him was Nicolas Petit, a native of France who lives just south of Anchorage. Petit left the checkpoint at 6:35 a.m.
Rounding out the top five was Joar Leifseth Ulsom of Norway, who departed Kaltag at 6:50 a.m.
The race across nearly 1,000 miles of wilderness started March 6 in Fairbanks. The winner is expected early this week in Nome, along the Bering Sea coast.