ONE HUNDRED WINTERS: Retracing the Great Race Against Death
Now Available on Amazon and through Signed Copies at MushMaine.com
As the world marks one hundred years since the legendary 1925 Serum Run to Nome—a race against time that saved a remote Alaskan town from a deadly diphtheria outbreak—a new book has emerged to honor the legacy with startling immediacy and firsthand grit.
One Hundred Winters: Retracing the Great Race Against Death plunges readers into the heart of the centennial commemoration—not as a retelling, but as a visceral modern retracing of the original 674-mile dog sled route. Written from the trail, through whiteouts, tundra storms, and subzero isolation, this book brings the past roaring into the present with the same urgency that drove Leonhard Seppala, Togo, and the twenty Native and non-Native mushers who relayed the serum a century ago.
Rather than revisiting history from a safe distance, the author set out across Alaska by dog team to honor the original relay, mile by treacherous mile. Crossing Norton Sound in wind chills near −80°F, navigating the jagged ice and gale-laced barrens of the Blow Hole, and battling the same terrain that nearly claimed the original teams, the modern expedition became more than a tribute—it became a test of human resolve and the enduring power of the sled dog.
The book threads two powerful narratives together:
The historic serum run of 1925—a desperate winter relay carried out by 20 mushers and over 150 dogs, most of them Alaska Native, whose courage preserved a community on the edge of catastrophe.
The modern centennial retracing—a punishing, real-world expedition that reveals how little the North has softened and how deeply the legacy of those original teams still runs through the ice, wind, and memory of the trail.
With a voice as raw and unvarnished as the journey itself, One Hundred Winters captures themes of endurance, history, faith, and the unbreakable bond between humans and their dogs. It sheds new light on the Native mushers whose contributions were historically overlooked, while still honoring the iconic figures—Seppala, Kaasen, and their legendary lead dogs.
Early readers have called the book:
“A living memorial on the move.”
“Not nostalgia, but resurrection.”
“A centennial tribute carved in ice and breath, not paper alone.”
For those who love true adventure, Alaskan history, dog mushing heritage, or stories of survival against the elements, this release marks one of the most significant tributes of the centennial year.
Where to get the book
As the memory of the Serum Run crosses its hundredth winter, this book stands as both a torchbearer and a challenge: that we not only remember the past, but dare to walk—or mush—back into it.
