Iñupiat musher takes 1st place at Alaska's Iditarod dog sled race

When Ryan Redington was just five years old, he found an old towline and tried to hook his puppies up to a tricycle.

This year, he was the first to cross the finish line at the Iditarod, a 1,500 kilometre dog sled race across Alaska, from Anchorage to Nome.

Redington, who is Iñupiat, is from Knik-Fairview, Alaska. He is the sixth Indigenous dog sled racer to win the Iditarod, completing the race in eight days and 21 hours.

"My family has taught me how to mush," he said.

His grandfather Joe Redington was the founder of the Iditarod, and his grandfather, father and uncle are in the Mushers Hall of Fame.

This year, the top three spots went to Indigenous racers with Pete Kaiser, who is Yup'ik, finishing second, and third place going to Richie Diehl, who is Dena'ina Athabaskan.

"It took me 16 years to win the race," said Redington.

He said there are many factors that can hinder a victory such as sleep deprivation, oversleeping at a checkpoint or getting lost. This year his sled broke, and he fell asleep and got lost during the race.

"The dogs decided to go off the trail," said Redington.

"When I woke up, there was no trail markers in sight and I decided the dogs must know about where we were going so I kept mushing with them."

The dogs are trained to identify the trail markers, placed about every three-quarter miles (1.2 km) along the trail.

Sarah Keefer, who has been Ryan's mushing partner since 2017, knows the dogs well.

"Sven and Ghost, they're both really driven lead dogs," she said.

"Their key interest is in seeing what's farther down the trail. They don't care about playing with the dogs behind them or what's happening anywhere besides going forward."

She said this determination is what defines a lead dog.

"[Sven] was