After 10 days, 14 hours, 55 minutes and 41 seconds, after traveling 1,128 miles, Jessie Holmes pulled under the new burled arch in Nome at 2:55am Thursday March 14th. He arrived with 10 unbelievable canine athletes in front of his sled.
Jessie has been an impressive competitor in the Iditarod since he first ran the race in 2018. He has earned 5 top 10 finishes in his 7 years competing, coming in 3rd in 2024. Claiming 1st place for the first time in the longest Iditarod in history is an amazing accomplishment.
Congratulations Jessie and all of your dogs!!
Three hours after Jessie, a cheering crowd welcomed Matt Hall in 2nd place. And 2 hours 40 minutes after that, Paige Drobny arrived in 3rd place. Congrats to these amazing athletes as well!
Michelle Phillips is the most recent musher to clear her final 8 hour rest and leave White Mountain. Barring something very unexpected, she should be our 4th musher into Nome.
Not to play a gender card, but International Women’s Day was not long ago. To have these ladies capture 3rd and 4th place in this unprecedented event is an inspiration to women and girls everywhere. This Mad Blogger is so very happy for these tough women.
There have been no additional scratches from the race, so with 3 mushers into Nome and 10 out of the race, we have 20 teams still out on the trail.
What about Anna?? We last left her on the trail out of Unalakleet, starting the coastal leg of this journey. After leaving Una in 14th place late Thursday, she spent 5 hours 40 minutes crossing the first 42 mile section of sea ice. She arrived in Shaktoolik (race mile 908) at 7:40pm Thursday March 13th. As there weren’t many mushers in the checkpoint when she arrived, she was directed to a prime parking spot for her dog team, out of the wind and closer to the few amenities on offer.
Anna rested with her dog team in Shak for just under 6 hours, heading out on the trail again before 2am Friday 3/14. This put her on the dreaded 50 mile stretch from Shak to Koyuk, over the sea ice again and almost certainly into some sort of frigid headwind.
Conditions were modestly improved from earlier in the race and the trail itself was in decent shape. Still a robust headwind, but not nearly as bad as our front teams saw. Our champ Jessie spent over 10 hours on this stretch, Matt Hall spent over 9 hours. Anna and her dogs crushed it in just over five and a half hours. Now, Jessie and Matt both camped out there at a small cabin while Anna ran straight through, a difference in strategic approach. That said, I don’t know that I would want to camp at a small cabin in those conditions!!
Net net, Anna arrived in Koyuk (race mile 958) at roughly 8:30am Friday morning. She was reported in 13th place, still running 12 dogs, with 170 miles left to the finish.
This Mad Blogger isn’t quite ready to predict her finishing time, but having consulted Kristy, we both think she could be into Nome by 5pm AKST Saturday. Another frequent predictor… mushers on average reach Nome about 24 hours after leaving Elim.
Other items of note: Kristy said the lunar eclipse was prominent in the cold, clear night sky Thursday into Friday. Hope everyone that wanted to was able to see this celestial event. And folks that are fat tire biking the Iditarod trail this year in the ITI (Iditarod Trail Invitational) have also been arriving under the Burled Arch. You think mushers are tough? Can you imagine BIKING that trail and towing your own trailer of supplies?!?! Dios mio.
Below - Gallery pics that Kristy helped me get of some ITI riders pedaling down Front St, Jessie Holmes arriving in Nome as our champ, and Paige Drobny arriving in 3rd.
Jessie has been an impressive competitor in the Iditarod since he first ran the race in 2018. He has earned 5 top 10 finishes in his 7 years competing, coming in 3rd in 2024. Claiming 1st place for the first time in the longest Iditarod in history is an amazing accomplishment.
Congratulations Jessie and all of your dogs!!
Three hours after Jessie, a cheering crowd welcomed Matt Hall in 2nd place. And 2 hours 40 minutes after that, Paige Drobny arrived in 3rd place. Congrats to these amazing athletes as well!
Michelle Phillips is the most recent musher to clear her final 8 hour rest and leave White Mountain. Barring something very unexpected, she should be our 4th musher into Nome.
Not to play a gender card, but International Women’s Day was not long ago. To have these ladies capture 3rd and 4th place in this unprecedented event is an inspiration to women and girls everywhere. This Mad Blogger is so very happy for these tough women.
There have been no additional scratches from the race, so with 3 mushers into Nome and 10 out of the race, we have 20 teams still out on the trail.
What about Anna?? We last left her on the trail out of Unalakleet, starting the coastal leg of this journey. After leaving Una in 14th place late Thursday, she spent 5 hours 40 minutes crossing the first 42 mile section of sea ice. She arrived in Shaktoolik (race mile 908) at 7:40pm Thursday March 13th. As there weren’t many mushers in the checkpoint when she arrived, she was directed to a prime parking spot for her dog team, out of the wind and closer to the few amenities on offer.
Anna rested with her dog team in Shak for just under 6 hours, heading out on the trail again before 2am Friday 3/14. This put her on the dreaded 50 mile stretch from Shak to Koyuk, over the sea ice again and almost certainly into some sort of frigid headwind.
Conditions were modestly improved from earlier in the race and the trail itself was in decent shape. Still a robust headwind, but not nearly as bad as our front teams saw. Our champ Jessie spent over 10 hours on this stretch, Matt Hall spent over 9 hours. Anna and her dogs crushed it in just over five and a half hours. Now, Jessie and Matt both camped out there at a small cabin while Anna ran straight through, a difference in strategic approach. That said, I don’t know that I would want to camp at a small cabin in those conditions!!
Net net, Anna arrived in Koyuk (race mile 958) at roughly 8:30am Friday morning. She was reported in 13th place, still running 12 dogs, with 170 miles left to the finish.
This Mad Blogger isn’t quite ready to predict her finishing time, but having consulted Kristy, we both think she could be into Nome by 5pm AKST Saturday. Another frequent predictor… mushers on average reach Nome about 24 hours after leaving Elim.
Other items of note: Kristy said the lunar eclipse was prominent in the cold, clear night sky Thursday into Friday. Hope everyone that wanted to was able to see this celestial event. And folks that are fat tire biking the Iditarod trail this year in the ITI (Iditarod Trail Invitational) have also been arriving under the Burled Arch. You think mushers are tough? Can you imagine BIKING that trail and towing your own trailer of supplies?!?! Dios mio.
Below - Gallery pics that Kristy helped me get of some ITI riders pedaling down Front St, Jessie Holmes arriving in Nome as our champ, and Paige Drobny arriving in 3rd.
And a couple pics Anna was able to send this Mad Blogger from out on the trail. I believe the photo of the dogs resting is from Wednesday, 3/12, early evening. And the northern lights from Thursday, 3/13, 1:42am.
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