Ryan Redington, Grandson Of The Father Of The Iditarod, Takes 1st Place In Killer Kobuk 440

Ryan Redington (Photo, Ryan Redington Kennel) 

Joe Redington of Knik, Alaska was father of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race. Now his grandson, Ryan Redington, just proved his mettle in the toughest race... ever. The Kobuk 440 of 2021. 

Ryan Redington has won $16,000 for first place in the Kobuk 440, which many believe turned out to be the toughest racing competition ever held. The Kobuk 440 was plagued with terrible weather and storms. Village rescue groups had to go out onto the tundra in heavy whiteout, trying to find lost teams.

Many mushers could not even find the trail in the blowing wind, and became completely disoriented, incapable of moving in the series of blizzards and whiteouts. 

Eventually, all the mushers were rescued and race organizers stopped the race to regroup. According to Alaska Public Media, they got all the remaining mushers together at Ambler. They rerouted the race back to Kotzebue, improbably starting at 2 am in the morning. The mushers had to take a mandatory 8 hours of rest on the way back. 

Jeff King, one of Alaska's best-known and most experienced mushers, scratched with frostbite. He told Alaska Public Media it was the worst weather in a race that he had seen in 40 years of mushing. 

Mushers took various routes, hunkered, stayed put and stumbled forward. They had a very difficult time. Sometimes the mushers couldn't even see their dogs while on the trail. Ironically, although the mushers couldn't see one another, their families, friends and handlers could use technology to track them and see how close "their" mushers were to each other, through sophisticated satellite tracking systems.  

Winning this race was an enormous achievement for Ryan Redington. Joe Redington's son, Raymie, is Ryan's dad. Ryan and his brothers, Ray and Robert, all are mushers in the large Redington dog racing family and many members have raced in the Copper Basin 300, including his grandfather, Joe Redington.