To paraphrase an often-cited quote when it comes to risk assessment, and apply it to the Iditarod – when it comes to planning out how this race may unfold, there are ‘known knowns’, ‘known unknowns,’ and ‘unknown unknowns’. The final category – ‘unknown unknowns’ – encompasses risks, dangers and situations that are so unexpected, it would be impossible to put contingencies in place for them.

The 2020 Iditarod had its fair share of unknown unknowns. Who knew that the race would take place as the biggest pandemic in a century was spreading across the globe? That was something none of us had prepared for.

For a handful of competitors in that race, however, there was a scenario they could not have envisaged in their pre-race planning. 

In our previous episodes – Short Notice, and On Pins & Needles – we spoke to two mushers with vastly different experience levels when it came to racing in the Iditarod. Sean Underwood, the subject of the first of those episodes, only found out a matter of days beforehand that he would be making his maiden Iditarod voyage by stepping into the shoes of four-time Iditarod winner, Jeff King. In the latter episode, Matthew Failor – with a decade of mushing experience behind him – spoke about what the Iditarod meant to him, and how passionate he is about the sport of mushing.

Yet in the early hours of March 20, 2020, the paths of these two mushers converged – literally. In the latter stages of the race, after sheltering from a huge storm, Underwood headed out on the trail towards the final two checkpoints of Safety and Nome. Little did he know what he would encounter on that journey – and little did he know that Failor would be stuck in the midst of it with him.