Brent Sass disqualified from Iditarod for carrying iPod Touch

Veteran musher Brent Sass was disqualified on day two of the 1,609-kilometre Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race for carrying a two-way communication device — specifically, an iPod Touch.

Sass, who won last month's Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race, told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner that he had an iPod Touch with wireless internet capability. Rule 35 prohibits cellphones and other two-way communication devices, said race director Mark Norman. 

Sass told Alaska Public Radio he used his iPod for music and wants his fans to know he was not cheating.

"I didn't use it and I had zero intent of using it for a Wi-Fi connection in checkpoints, but I was just completely clueless," Sass said. "I mean, I gave my dad my cell phone because I knew you couldn't have cell phones on this race specifically and I was just ignorant." 

Pete Kaiser has early lead

A young musher who recently won an all-river-ice sled dog race in Alaska has grabbed an early lead in the Iditarod. 

Pete Kaiser of Bethel was the first to leave the Manley Hot Springs checkpoint, 259 kilometres into the race.

He departed at 7:58 a.m. Tuesday, followed 40 minutes later by 2004 Iditarod winner Mitch Seavey. Musher Jessie Royer of Darby, Montana, pulled out of the checkpoint 17 minutes after Seavey.

A field of 78 mushers began the trek Monday from Fairbanks to the gold gold-rush town of Nome.

The race usually kicks off about 580 kilometres south in Willow, but a lack of snow led organizers to move the start farther north.

The route change adds almost 1,000 kilometres of river ice, but it eliminates a mountain range and treacherous gorge, making the overall route slightly shorter — about 30 kilometres — than usual.