A favourite to win the Iditarod sled dog race, a 1,600-kilometres arctic haul across Alaska from Nome to Anchorage, dropped out of the event Monday just 320 kilometres from the finish line because his dogs refused to continue. The 38-year-old’s sled earlier in the day left Shaktoolik in the lead “like a rocket,” he told local television station KTUU. But then one of his dogs wanted to stop for a bathroom break and an older dog jumped on top of it in disagreement. Petit took his dogs back to a cabin at Shaktoolik to rest, but later decided to drop out of the race entirely for the good of his dogs. Ulsom finished the 1,000-mile (1,600 kilometre) race 12 minutes after Kaiser.

Source: National Post March 13, 2019 17:48 UTC