Fighting for First: A look back at Iditarod 2018

Sixty-seven mushers are racing 1,000 miles across Alaska by dog sled. Three men quickly jump to the lead. They battle injuries, fatigue, exhaustion — and each other.

Nicolas Petit was born in France and moved to New Mexico in 1992, then to Alaska in 2000. He ran his first Iditarod in 2011 and had four top 10 finishes by 2017.

Joar Leifseth Ulsom grew up in Norway and fell in love with mushing after getting a couple of dogs to go skijoring with. He now lives in Willow, and is mushing full time. He first ran the Iditarod in 2013 and has run it every year since, never finishing lower then seventh place.

Mitch Seavey has run the Iditarod trail more times then Nic or Joar combined. He was born into the sport, with his father Dan Seavey running the first Iditarod in 1973. He broke the speed record in 2017; finishing in 8 days, 3 hours, and 40 minutes.

Dave Goldman has covered five Iditarods for KTVA 11 News. He recounts his memory of the 2018 race from checkpoints in Anchorage, Skwentna, Nikolai, Takotna, Shageluk, Anvik, Unalakleet, and finally Nome.