Iditarod 2024 sees first scratch as Minnesota rookie pulls out in Ruby ‘in best interest of team’

RUBY, Alaska (KTUU) – After nearly seven days and close to 500 miles, the first competitor of Iditarod 2024 has scratched, as rookie Erin Altemus pulled out of the race early Sunday morning at the Ruby checkpoint overlooking the Yukon River.

It was a remarkable record for a race that typically sees its first competitor scratch within the first week as mushers make their way through the southern reaches of the Alaska Range.

“I tell people that racing is always the highest highs and lowest of lows, but I’m kinda just riding the challenges,” Altemus said Wednesday in McGrath. “I am not saying it’s low. It’s just — I don’t know.

“I can tell the dogs are just like mentally at their edge, so trying keep them from falling over the edge completely.”

“I am very tired,” Altemus continued. “We were in — where were we last, Nikolai? And I overslept, which I think was good for me. I needed a little sleep, but still falling asleep on the runners a little bit in the last couple hours.”

Altemus is a Grand Marais, Minnesota, musher who had 10 dogs in harness when she arrived in Ruby on Saturday afternoon, all in good health, according to the Iditarod. Altemus officially called it quits at 4:38 a.m. Sunday.

“My very best leader is not wanting to lead, which I have never seen him balk in a race before, so that’s odd,” she said earlier this week. “I was doing a lot of switching around of leaders. You see dogs start funny behaviors this far into a race.

“We’ve done Beargrease (sled dog race) many times and usually it’s like that 250-300 miles where they just start acting real goofy, stopping to go to the bathroom constantly, the whole team will fold up and they’re all looking at each other … ‘C’mon guys, I know you’re not actually that tired. I think you have some reserve left.’”

Altemus, a nurse, has been racing dogs with her husband for 12 years and says she wanted to run Iditarod for many years, but the dream was on hold for a while after the birth of her daughter Sylvia, now six years old.

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