Photo: Elevation Sled Dog Adventures.

By Shane Clausing

Aaron peck iditarod

Bezanson’s Peck pleased with 10th place Iditarod finish

Mar 24, 2022 | 5:11 PM

Bezanson’s Aaron Peck is back home from the world-famous Iditarod sled dog race in Alaska.

Peck finished 10^th place in the race, which was his best finish ever in the famous race across the state of Alaska.

He completed the race in nine days, 12 hours, 10 minutes, and 30 seconds.

A top ten finish in the Iditarod was one of Peck’s goals this year before the race took place. He tells EverythingGP he was proud of his team for accomplishing their goal and being able to power through shorthanded.

“There were a lot of times during the race we didn’t know if we were going to succeed,” said Peck.

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“We returned several dogs home early in the race and it felt like the race wasn’t really going to come together for us.”

Peck started the race with 14 dogs and says he lost a lot of them early due to injuries. However, despite the injuries, Peck says his team of dogs was able to find a way to keep pushing.

“(We) had seven really awesome dogs there who brought us to the finish line in 10^th place, so we’re really happy and really thankful.”

While he did lose lots of dogs in the race, Peck says in a way, he was able to use it to his advantage.

“For me and the dogs, it becomes an even more intimate experience,” he stated. “We can take care of 14 (dogs) no problem, but when you’re down to seven or eight dogs, it’s a lot less work for me,” Peck explained.

“We were lucky too, the trail conditions were pretty fast, so having less dogs didn’t impact us in the same way if it was a soft and slow trail.”

Peck says it was tough seeing some of the dogs being sent home.

“You just (need) to keep your emotions in check and stay calm. The challenge of sending dogs home is really hard,” he explained.

We want all the dogs to finish and we expected a lot of the dogs to finish the race because they’ve been strong all year. The Iditarod really throws curveballs at you that you don’t see coming.”

Peck says it was a fun race once again and thanks everyone in the Peace Region for their support while he was in Alaska.