Nome Serum Run: Race Against Death | Outbreak | 1

Against The Odds

Wondery

Cassie De Pecol, History, Society & Culture, Dolby, Mike Corey, Dolby Atmos, Atmos

4.7 • 7.2K Ratings

🗓️ 28 January 2025

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It’s the winter of 1925 and in the remote town of Nome, Alaska, children are dying from a diphtheria outbreak that’s spreading fast. But in the dead of winter, the town is nearly impossible to reach and its supply of medicine is dwindling. The only option is to send the medicine by dogsled, in a relay led by one of Alaska’s best mushers, Leonhard Seppala. The teams will have to cross nearly 700 snow-covered miles at breakneck speed, but an epic blizzard is on its way.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Against the Odds early and ad-free right now.
0:05.6	Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
0:20.0	Leonard Sepula grips the crossbar of his Birchwood dog sled.
0:24.6	His team of eight Siberian Huskies charges across the frozen surface of Norton Sound.
0:30.4	It's a faster pace than he normally risk, but today, time is of the essence.
0:36.3	All right, Togo! Easy through here. Easy boy. Despite the choppy sea ice
0:42.8	beneath their feet, his dog team has been running at a smooth, swift gate. The gangline and harness
0:49.0	are pulled taut and practically humming in the wind. But there's a storm gathering, which means the ice can start breaking up.
0:57.0	So he needs to keep within sight of shore in case conditions on the ice worsened.
1:02.0	And over the howling wind, he's not sure his lead dog Togo can hear his commands.
1:08.0	G Togo!
1:10.0	Whoa! Whoa! G! Whoa! G!
1:11.6	G!
1:12.6	G!
1:13.6	In dog-musher commands, G means right.
1:18.6	Togo guides the team in that direction, closer to shore, and SEPA raise a sigh of relief.
1:24.6	It's before dawn on February 1st, 1925. 10 days ago, an outbreak of diphtheria began spreading
1:35.1	in Sepulah's hometown of Nome, Alaska. The disease is especially deadly to children.
1:42.3	Five children have already died and dozens more have fallen ill.
1:46.9	The only way to stop the spread is with antitoxin serum, a package of which is strapped to
1:53.0	SEPA's sled inside a small wooden crate. The short 47-year-old is an experienced Norwegian musher,
2:00.6	his face ruddy from years on the trail,
	...

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