From Kyle Hopkins in Anchorage --

How did Kotzebue musher John Baker win the 2011 Iditarod with record speed? Will he be back next year?

And how does the sport's most outspoken heavyweight feel about missing an unprecedented fifth-straight win?

Here they are in their own words. These raw, unedited clips are from long interviews with each champion shortly after they arrived in Nome. Normally I do some rudimentary editing to get the videos down to a few minutes in order to upload from remote villages and make it easier to watch fresh clips each day.

If you're fan of each musher there's a lot here that didn't make it into any of this year's Iditarod coverage. Baker, in particular, talks candidly about his efforts to control the speed of his challengers: