Wasilla team wins Iron Dog

FAIRBANKS — A pair of Wasilla riders claimed their second Iron Dog title as a duo Saturday afternoon.

Todd Minnick and Nick Olstad stormed across the finish line in downtown Fairbanks Saturday at 12:09 p.m. to get their first Iron Dog win since 2009. Olstad also won the race in 2005.

Minnick and Olstad used a push during the second half of the 2,031-mile race to win their titles. The Wasilla duo finished with a total time of 36 hours and 58.37 seconds. Anchorage’s Marc McKenna and Kasilof’s Dusty VanMeter finished second in the race, reaching Fairbanks at 12:31 p.m. Nome’s Mike Morgan and Eagle River’s Chris Olds, who led at the halfway point in Nome, settled for third in the race. Morgan and Olds reached the finish at 1:01 p.m.

Minnick, 34, and Olstad, 31, led the pack into Tanana, and were the first riders Saturday morning allowed to leave the checkpoint, which is about 300 miles from Fairbanks. Minnick and Olstad led McKenna and VanMeter by about 22 minutes at Tanana.

Another all-Wasilla team finished fourth in the race. Andy George and Brad George hit the finish line in Fairbanks at 2:10 p.m. to finish fourth.

Palmer’s Eric Quam, teaming with Brian Dick of Thief River Falls, Minn., placed fifth in the Iron Dog. Quam and Dick finished at 1:40 p.m.

Both Quam and Andy George are also former champions.

For more information, see irondog.org.