It happened early Saturday, first to musher Aliy Zirkle.
Near the checkpoint in the village of Nulato, she said a snowmachiner
repeatedly attempted to harm her and her team.
One of her dog's received a non-life threatening injury and
Aliy reported the attack to the Alaska State Troopers after reaching the
checkpoint.
Soon after, four-time Iditarod champion Jeff King, who was
behind Zirkle, experienced a similar incident 12-miles outside the Nulato
checkpoint, according to a release from the Iditarod Trail Committee.
The snowmobile reportedly killed Nash, a three-year-old
male. Crosby, another three-year-old male, and Banjo, a two-year-old male,
received non-life threatening injuries.
King himself received medical attention at the checkpoint.
"I gave first aid to the dogs the best I could, loaded
them in my sled and continued onto Nulato where I reported the incident,"
King told Alaska Public Media. "And at the point of impact, the snow machine’s
cowling had flown off, the driver did not stop, and he was a distant light in
an instant."
Cowling is the removable cover of the snowmobile's engine.
Authorities used the cover to identify the alleged attacker as State Troopers
made their way to Nulato to investigate at daybreak.
At around 11:45 a.m. local time, Alaska State Troopers arrested
Arnold Demoski of Nulato. The 26-year-old was charged with r two counts of
Assault in the third degree, one count of Reckless Endangerment, one count
Reckless Driving and six counts of criminal Mischief in the fifth degree,
according to a release.
In an interview with KTUU just prior to his arrest, Nulato
admitted he'd been out drinking just before coming upon Zirkle and her team.
He said he only meant to help and not hurt her. He also
said that King was his favorite musher as a boy.
While shaken and potentially knocked off their game,
frontrunners Zirkle and King both intend to continue with the race and finish
in Nome.
"I have a sense of loss and anger but also of
gratitude that more of my dogs were not hurt," Kind said. "I’m not
going to let this schmuck take any more the fun away."
The most elite race for sled dog mushers, the Iditarod
takes place each March and sees teams of one musher and 16 dogs brave sub-zero
temperatures and blizzard conditions to traverse 1,000 miles of brutal Alaskan
terrain.
