An overlooked husky leads the last leg of the deadliest race for Nome's children.
Who drives the story
A steady, strong, reliable Siberian husky owned by Gunnar Kaasen — not a leader, not the fastest, often overlooked. In the worst blizzard of the run he leads a team for the first time and becomes the hero of Nome.
Balto's owner and musher, waiting at Bluff as the backup team. When the next musher is missing, he drives through the whiteout, loses and recovers the serum with his bare hands, and takes the final leg to Nome himself.
The only doctor in Nome, facing a diphtheria epidemic with expired antitoxin. His urgent telegrams set the whole relay in motion, and he thaws the serum and saves the children when it arrives.
Nome's most famous musher, who with his lead dog Togo runs the longest and most dangerous leg — 260 miles, including 91 across Norton Sound ice in a blizzard. He later feels Togo deserved more of the credit.
Seppala's lead dog, who crosses the shifting ice of Norton Sound in a blinding blizzard. He runs the hardest leg of all but is overshadowed by Balto in the public's memory.
The first musher, who picks up the serum at Nenana on January 27, 1925, and starts the relay in fifty degrees below zero, losing dogs to frostbitten lungs and suffering severe frostbite himself.
How they are connected
A steady, strong, reliable Siberian husky owned by Gunnar Kaasen — not a leader, not the fastest, often overlooked.
Nome's most famous musher, who with his lead dog Togo runs the longest and most dangerous leg — 260 miles, including 91 across Norton Sound ice in a blizzard.
He runs the hardest leg of all but is overshadowed by Balto in the public's memory.
Go deeper
The ordinary hero · A chain of many hands · Who gets the credit · Community against nature
Themes explainedThe full story act by act, the ending explained and a quick quiz.
Open the summary