Editor’s note: Richland Source is posting daily updates on Mansfield native Matthew Failor’s efforts at the 2025 Iditarod Sled Dog Race, which began March 3. Updates post daily at 7 a.m. and may be updated during the day.
(UPDATE: Mansfield native Matthew Failor reached the Manley Hot Springs checkpoint Tuesday at 12:48 p.m. (AKST) after an 85-mile run from Nenana. Manley is the second checkpoint on the revised trail. The next checkpoint is Tanana, which is 202 miles into the 1,128-mile race to Nome. Failor was running in 21st place when he reached the checkpoint and quickly continued down the trail.)
ON THE IDITAROD TRAIL, Alaska — Matthew Failor harnessed his 16-dog team Monday night and raced away into the darkness from the village of Nenana, population 363.
To the Mansfield native, it finally felt like he was on the 2025 Iditarod trail, headed to the next checkpoint of Manley Hot Springs, 85 miles away, a “census-designated place” with a population of 169.
“This is a tricky start,” he told Iditarod.com Insider before the race’s official restart Monday morning in Fairbanks. The course is headed 1,128 miles away to Nome on the state’s west coast.
“You take it from here and then you go to Nenana (52 miles away). I get to say goodbye to my handlers and family again,” he said.
“So you’re almost doing (another) restart when you get to Nenana. So once (I) leave Nenana, then I’ll really feel like we’re on the trail. But I am ready.
“We have everything packed. The dogs are primed and they got a ton of miles on them … so we’re just ready to drop the puck.”
Failor, who drew bib No. 31 in the 33-team field, left Fairbanks at 11:58 a.m. (AKST), nearly one hour after musher Jason Mackey led the field from the starting chute.
Teams were released every two minutes, meaning the St. Peter’s High School graduate left 20 minutes after his Alaskan Husky Adventures handler, Dane Baker, who is making his first Iditarod run.
One of the mandatory breaks mushers must take during the race is a 24-hour rest, which race officials use to manage the time difference between teams who start the race at staggered intervals.
Failor arrived in Nenana on Monday at 5:23 p.m., covering the 52-mile frozen river stretch in five hours and 25 minutes. He rested his team along the river at the checkpoint for four hours and 20 minutes, heading back out on the trail at 9:43 p.m.
Racing away from Fairbanks in temperatures reaching the high 30s, the field remained bunched from the start with only nine miles separating the leader from the 26th-place musher after five hours of mushing.
In the Iditarod.com Insider chat Tuesday morning, one fan told Richland Source, “Matt has fans watching and rooting for him from as far away as Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.”
Prior to leaving Fairbanks, Failor admitted to feeling pre-race jitters even as he prepared for his 14th Iditarod, a race across Alaska that’s been dubbed “The Last Great Race.”
“I always have the pre-race jitters no matter what. There’s just the anxious feeling of wanting to get out on the trail,” he said. “The dogs are good. I think they are ready to go.
“They probably feel my anxious jitters. It’s warm and we’re traveling, so they’re not eating as well as I had hoped, but they’re fat and happy, so it’s good,” he said.
When Failor’s 17th-Dog team arrived in Nenana, averaging around 10 miles an hour, his dogs immediately dove into the snow to cool off. The warm temperatures were something the veteran musher was aware of before the race began.
“We just have to be cognizant of the warm weather with dogs that work really hard or dark-coated or thicker-haired dogs. We might stop every hour, just let them roll around in the snow.
“I might actually carry one that doesn’t like to run in the heat, so we’re just being really aware,” Failor said.
Leap-frogging was already underway on the trail as mushers pick places to stop and rest their teams, passed by other teams, who will then be passed themselves as they stop to rest and eat.
The first 600 miles of the revised route are along the flat and sweeping Yukon River, a marked change from the more technical start seen on the traditional southern route.
On Tuesday, just before 7 a.m. when this story was published, Failor was mushing along in 20th place about 43 miles from Manley Hot Springs.
The restart in Fairbanks, about 290 miles north of Anchorage, was ordered by the Iditarod Trail Committee due to low snow amounts in southeast Alaska. The restart is normally done in Willow, near Failor’s home outside Anchorage.
Failor said he was pleased with the reception the mushers received in Fairbanks, which has now been the starting site four times in the 53-year history of the race.
“It’s just nice that the community brought us in and welcomed us on short notice. Really, anytime we go to a dog sled race, we’re just thankful for the communities that promote dog mushing. So it’s, it’s nice to be here,” he said.
“Obviously, we live in Willow, so we’d love to run out of our hometown, but Fairbanks is just as good today,” Failor said.
(Below are photos taken by Tim Failor, Matt’s father, on Monday as the 2025 Iditarod Sled Dog Race had its official restart in Fairbanks, Alaska. The story continues below the photos.)
Which 32 dogs made the Alaskan Husky Adventure teams?
Failor announced on Sunday night the final choices made for his team. He also unveiled the team being mushed by Baker, running his first Iditarod with a younger team from Failor’s kennel.
(Below are the six dogs that lead Matthew Failor’s team from the starting line in Fairbanks on Monday as the 2025 Iditarod Sled Dog Race began. All six are Iditarod veterans.)
Failor’s team includes Gail Force and Saga; McLaren and Theo; Mach 10 and Fable; Grand and Kayla; Jimbo and Ballad; Dabo and Molly; Hundo and Smackers; and Mel and Five-Spot.
He brought along Ana as a potential replacement if one is needed in Fairbanks.
Baker’s team is Fat Stacks and Pepper; Willy and Sirill Loretta and Latte; Rascal and Sonic Boom; Emmy Lou and Baxter; Reba and Dolly; Bentley and Scrilla; and Moolah and Merle. Waylon also made the trip north to Fairbanks as a potential fill-in before the start of the race.
