WILLOW, Alaska — Matthew Failor seriously considered not racing in the 2025 Idiatrod Sled Dog Race across Alaska.
In fact, the 42-year-old Mansfield St. Peter’s graduate didn’t make it official until the last minute, officially entering the “The Last Great Race” on Dec. 2, the final day for admissions.
That means Failor will launch his 14th Iditarod effort when the nearly 1,000-mile race begins its 53rd campaign with a ceremonial start in Anchorage on March 1. This particular practice begins on Saturday with the first of two shorter prep races.
“There are a lot of factors involved,” said Failor of his decision to enter the Iditarod.
Previously, he said after last year’s race he may step away from the event for a year.
“We’ve got the sponsors and the boosters and the things in place to do it this year,” he noted.
“It’s hard to walk away from, because we are established. But I also know in the future we want to grow our family, so I figured it’s easier to run the Iditarod with one child.
“Down the road, when there are more kids, it’s going to be that much harder,” said Failor, who has an 18-month-old son, Theo, with his wife, Liz.
“So Liz and I agreed that we should just go ahead and try again this year,” he said.
(Below are recent photos from Mansfield native Matthew Failor near his home in Willow, Alaska, where he operates his Alaskan Husky Adventures business. The story continues below the photos.)
That means Failor and his 17th Dog team will have two squads in this year’s Iditarod as Dane Baker, who works for Failor, will also compete in March, making his first run across the snow and ice.
Both men are running shorter races this month to help prepare for the Iditarod, which begins in Anchorage — about an hour’s drive from Failor’s home in Willow — and continues all the way to the state’s west coast in Nome.
Failor and his team are competing Saturday in the Copper Basin 300 and the Kuskokwim 300 on Jan. 24.
Baker is racing a team in the SuDog 300 on Jan. 25.
Failor and his 17th Team have 50 dogs as part of the Alaskan Husky Adventures business and will have 12 huskies in each of the shorter races. Every team will have 16 dogs to begin the Iditarod race.
The Eagle Scout and Ohio State University graduate isn’t expecting a high finish in Saturday’s race against 35 other mushers.
“I generally take the bigger, slightly slower dogs (to the Copper Basin race). But you never know … if it’s a slow trail … we might be able to keep up with it,” he said. “They are all training runs, but the Copper Basin is going to be just a straight up camping trip. We don’t really care where we finish.
“I’m going to give extra rest. The mandatory minimum rest is 18 hours and I feel like the dogs I am taking there are going to need a few more hours of rest of to get around successfully,” he said.
Failor finished 5th at the Copper Basin 300 in 2020, when he also received the Humanitarian Award for best dog care. He was 8th in 2019, earning Rookie of the Year in the race.
His plan will be different for the Kusko 300 in two weeks, even with the presence of home-town favorite Pete Kaiser and the return of nine-time champion Jeff King.
Failor won the Kusko in 2019 and has finished second four times, including in 2024.
“The goal is to win the Kusko,” he said. “We are going to take our quickest team there, the best of the best. The Kusko is probably going to be three-quarters of the same (dog team) from last year.
“Some of the older dogs from last year are 8 years old now so I may not take them. It’s a pretty quick pace for an older dog.”
It’s all preparation for the Iditarod, which tests dogs and mushers across the entire state of Alaska.
Failor finished last year’s race at 13th place, clocking in at 10 days, 2 hours and 35 minutes.
He was in position to chase another Top 10 (or perhaps Top 5) finish during the race when he stopped to help and spend time with a young musher who had a dog perish on the trail.
Failor finished eighth in the 2023 race, his only Top 10 performance thus far.
In a field of 35 mushers, it’s an accomplishment Failor believes he can achieve.
“I would love to get Top 5,” he said. “I know we could win the race, but everything has to go right for us.
“I would be ecstatic with a Top-5 finish. I would be disappointed if we finished outside of the Top 10.
“I hate to say disappointed, because the dogs give it their all and everything needs to come together during the race. We are hoping for Top 10, but we really want Top 5,” he said.
That pursuit begins Saturday in Glenallen, Alaska.
(Below is the video from “An Evening with Matthew Failor” at the Richland Source after the 2024 Iditarod race.)
