While the dog and musher Leonhard Seppala ran the longest and most dangerous leg (about 260 miles), Balto was the lead dog for the final 53-mile stretch into Nome.
The story of Balto is a legendary tale of endurance and survival from the 1925 "Great Race of Mercy," where a relay of sled dog teams raced across the Alaskan wilderness to save the town of Nome from a deadly diphtheria outbreak. The Race Against Death While the dog and musher Leonhard Seppala ran
Anchorage, over 600 miles away. With the harbor frozen and planes grounded by sub-zero blizzards, officials organized a relay of 20 mushers and about 150 dogs to transport the medicine. Balto’s Heroic Final Leg While the dog and musher Leonhard Seppala ran