After racing through grueling storms, Aklestad/Olstad win 2026 Iron Dog — Team Booth/Barber finish 8th
Iron Dog competitors battled deep snow and cold temperatures on the way into Fairbanks from Nome as they made their final push to the finish line from the halfway point in Nome, arriving Saturday late evening.
On Saturday, 8:32 p.m. Tyler Aklestad and Nick Olstad won the 2026 Iron Dog with a trail time of 51 hours, 25 minutes and 26 seconds. Tyler Aklestad earned his fifth Iron Dog championship, while Nick Olstad secured his seventh career Iron Dog win, which now ties the all-time Iron Dog championship record of Scott Davis and John Faeo, each with seven victories, according to the Iron Dog.
Steffen Booth of Nome and his teammate Evan Barber, Team 3, finished in eighth with a time of 67:24:59, at 9:14 p.m. Saturday.
Booth said that he had hoped for a higher finish, but the trail breaking between Elim and Golovin on Wednesday cost them hours of time. “Definitely not the happiest about finishing in eighth,” he said. “But [still] pretty stoked. I’m a little frustrated but nothing too bad.”
As teams departed Nome on Friday, starting at 6 a.m.., another wind and snowstorm was forecasted to hit the coast and move into the interior. Race Marshal Dan Zipay made the call to send the competitors out, banking on the Iron Dogs to outrun the storm. In an interview Friday morning, he said that the racers would be long gone before the storm hit.
Zipay did note that the snow past Ruby and into the interior was deep.
Team 49 was the last to depart the final coastal checkpoint of Unalakleet at 10:50 p.m. By that point, Aklestad and Olstad of Team 7 were already to the checkpoint in Manley Hot Springs, more than 400 miles ahead.
Booth said that the stretch into Fairbanks from the coast was the roughest part of the trail. Deep snow concealed the ruts and Barber crashed once with no injuries. And it got cold. “Once we left Kaltag it got pretty cold and it kept getting colder,” said Booth.
Booth and Barber made it to Tanana at around 2:19 a.m. Saturday for a ten-hour layover. In Galena, just after 9 a.m., Tyler Gurley and Kristofer Sindorf of Team 24 scratched due to electrical issues, leaving 19 teams in the race.
In Nenana, teams were held before the final push to Fairbanks. The first team into Nenana was Team 42, Antone Contento and Andy Swenson, at 4:57 p.m.. Team 7 arrived roughly 20 minutes later and Booth and Barber came in at 6:40 p.m..
At 7:45 p.m., Aklestad and Olstad departed Nenana and lead the race into Fairbanks. Team 5 departed 15 minutes later and Team 10 departed 13 minutes after that. The rest of the teams departed at two-minute intervals starting at 8:05 p.m. Aklestad and Olstad made it to Fairbanks at 8:32 p.m. having finished the 57 miles stretch from Nenana to the finish in about 57 minutes. By 10:24 p.m., the final team arrived in Fairbanks and the 2026 Iron Dog was over.
Booth said that he’s looking forward to the rest of the racing season and that his next race will the Nome-Golovin race, set for March 14. “Thank you to everyone out there supporting and cheering us on,” he said.
2026 Iron Dog Results
1. Team #7 Aklestad / Olstad - Ski-Doo (51:25:26)
2. Team #5 Davis / Weisz - Ski-Doo (53:37:00);
3. Team #10 Olds / Sottosanti - Polaris (54:04:56);
4. Team #19 Gossett / Moore - Polaris (55:17:13);
5. Team #14 Boylan / Leslie - Polaris (56:55:17);
6. Team #17 Dohrn / Schaack - Ski-Doo (58:52:03);
7. Team #40 Baldwin / Williamson - Ski-Doo (64:56:23)
8. Team #3 Barber / Booth - Polaris (67:24:59);
9. Team #49 Palin / VanWingerden - Ski-Doo (68:37:23);
10.Team #42 Contento / Swenson - Polaris (69:45:24);
11. Team #39 Barber / Lapham - Polaris (70:16:07);
12. Team #21 Halek-Hooper / Stafford - Arctic Cat (70:26:08);
13. Team #44 Sieh / Sieh - Ski-Doo (70:36:48);
14. Team #9 Kaltenbacher / Sabin - Polaris (70:38:57);
15. Team #34 Payton / Spain - Polaris (73:42:23);
16. Team #23 Gabryszak / Gabryszak - Ski-Doo (74:18:58);
17. Team #20 Anselment / Taylor - Ski-Doo (74:41:06);
18. Team #18 Carroll / Hollenbeck - Polaris (76:17:25);
19. Team #8 James / Thomas - Ski-Doo (78:59:29)
Ariana Crockett O'Harra
I am from Anchorage, Alaska, where I grew up cross country skiing, kayaking, and spending time outdoors. In 2024, I graduated from Montana State University with double majors in photography and english with a minor in psychology. I enjoy running, film photography, and cooking.
I'm a new reporter at The Nome Nugget, but I spent most of my teen and college years preparing for a career in journalism. In high school, I worked with Alaska Teen Media Institute, where I learned the ins and outs of print, radio and visual journalism. In college, I worked for my school paper, The MSU Exponent, where I covered everything from drag shows to rodeos to presidential rallies.
Although I was employed as a photographer and director of photography at prior jobs, I still wrote, and much of my work is driven by the urge to create cohesive, comprehensive coverage of a situation, both visually and in writing. I moved to Nome in part because I love the north, I love the ocean, and I love the tundra, but I also moved here because I believe that local journalism is a lifeline for communities – local journalists are the ones reporting on your school board meetings, the state of the roads, and whatever else comes across our desks. We're also the ones who are in some of the best positions to report on national issues that affect our communities. I am most interested to use my skills to inform our readers in a truthful and unbiased way.