Nome Serum Run: Race Against Death | The Ice Factory | 2

Against The Odds

Wondery

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

4.7 • 7.2K Ratings

🗓️ 4 February 2025

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The diphtheria outbreak in Nome is spreading fast as a relay of dogsled teams races across Alaska, carrying the only available medicine. Leonard Seppala knows that if he and his lead dog Togo take a shortcut across the frozen Norton Sound, they can shave off precious time and make it to Nome faster. But Seppala also knows he risks getting blown out to sea or falling through a crack in the ice, losing his team and the precious medicine he’s carrying.

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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.
0:17.5	Wild Bill Shannon guides his dog team west along the trail.
0:22.6	Behind him, faint glimmers of daylight blooms slowly over the mountains to the east.
0:27.6	But the light does nothing to ease the intense cold.
0:31.6	It was 50 below when he left the Minto Roadhouse a few hours ago.
0:36.6	He guesses it's much colder than that now, especially with the windshield.
0:42.5	Shannon's fingers feel like blocks of ice.
0:45.3	He windmills his arms forward and back and slaps his hands against his thighs in the sled's
0:50.7	handlebars, trying to get blood circulating again. He can tell that he is on the verge of frostbite.
0:58.1	It's the morning of January 28, 1925.
1:02.5	It's been a week since a diphtheria outbreak hit the town of Nome, Alaska.
1:07.5	At least four children are dead.
1:09.9	Shannon is part of a dog sled relay bringing a supply of
1:13.1	antitoxin serum to Nome, which is more than 600 miles to the west. He's the relay's first musher.
1:20.5	Last night, he and his team traveled 30 miles before stopping at a roadhouse to rest and drink
1:25.6	coffee. Now he has 22 miles to go to reach the village of Tolovana,
1:30.3	where another dog sled musher will take the serum on the next stage of the relay.
1:35.3	The relay is following the sled trails of the postal route, known as the Mail Trail.
1:40.3	It winds along the north shore of the frozen Tanana River. Shannon's team
1:45.8	tugs the sled forward, and the dog's heads hang low. They're as cold and tired as he is.
1:52.1	He occasionally hops off the sled and runs beside the team to stay warm. But then, one of his
	...

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