Ryan Redington has won the 2023 Iditarod! After 8 days, 21 hours, 12 minutes and 58 seconds out on the trail, the grandson of one of the founders of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race has pulled under the burled arch first. Or perhaps firsts? Ryan is the first to finish the race this year and the first in his family to become an Iditarod Champion. He arrived with 6 dogs in harness to a Front Street in Nome bursting with people. His two lead dogs were 6 year old Ghost and 4 year old Sven.
On behalf of Seeing Double, I want to wish Ryan and his dogs a hearty congratulations!
Cheers are also in order for our second place musher, Pete Kaiser. He arrived in Nome with eight dogs only 1 hour 24 minutes after Ryan. As the 2019 champion, I can imagine he also arrived to much fanfare. After that, Richie Diehl pulled in with 7 dogs leading the way an hour and four minutes later. Our fourth musher also just arrived in Nome in as I write this, so atta boy Matt Hall and his 7 dogs as well!!
We have 2 mushers racing between Safety and Nome, 4 mushers out of White Mountain on the way to Safety, and 2 mushers finishing up their 8-hours in White Mountain. Working backward up the trail, the next four teams are reported out of Elim, one is resting in Elim, two are between Elim and Koyuk on the trail, and four are in Koyuk - race mile 827. Which brings us to the twins!
My last post left the twins in Unalakleet, resting after their long run, on Monday afternoon. They remained in checkpoint for just under six hours, pulling their snow hooks and hitting the trail before 8:30pm Monday evening. Kristy returned one dog from Una (or, rather, sent it forward, as dogs from this checkpoint on will be transported on to Nome to await their teams rather than back to Anchorage). That gives her 8 canine athletes in front of her sled. Anna hasn't returned a dog since Grayling, giving her 10 in front of her sled.
Anna and Kristy spent six hours mushing the 40 miles from Una to Shaktoolik, arriving at 2:25am Tuesday morning. They planned a 5-6 hour rest here, but Mother Nature had other plans. A nasty ground blizzard kicked up. With temps already around -4F, a 28mph or more wind took the "feels like" down to 30 below. Musher Deke Naabktgeboren had pulled out of Shak only a few minutes before the twins arrived, mushed 12 miles, and then spent the next 9 hours hunkered down at a shelter cabin along the trail. Taking his circumstances into account, Kristy and Anna ultimately stayed about seven and a half hours in Shak before deciding the ground blizzard was abating and it made sense to hit the trail again.
With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, it was a very good call. The twins spent just over 7 hours on the 50 miles between Shak and Koyuk. Deke and his team? They were out there for 14 hours and 50 minutes! But that's just the thing about Iditarod... and apparently a box of chocolates?... you never know what you're gonna get. Nor how quickly you get it! These coastal storms can be fast and furious, and almost completely out of nowhere.
Anna and Kristy were reported 20th and 21st, respectively, into Koyuk and we should see them take a 6 hour rest here (give or take). That would put them back on the trail around 11pm AKST Tuesday night with 48 miles to run to the next checkpoint of Elim. They still have 171 miles to cover once they do leave Koyuk before they reach Nome, but I'm finally consulting the last handful of checkpoints on my list!!
We still only have 3 teams scratched from the race and with 4 into Nome, we're left with 26 teams out on the trail. There may be a champion to celebrate, and it will be fun to see the top 10 secured. But this is never over until it's over, which means keeping an eye on the trail until the Red Lantern pulls into Nome.
The twins had extra time in Shak and bandwidth to boot, so here are a bunch of pics, direct from Kristy and Anna, of the trail so far. If you're anything like me, these shots will get your blood pumping enough to stick around until everyone is safely into Nome.
On behalf of Seeing Double, I want to wish Ryan and his dogs a hearty congratulations!
Cheers are also in order for our second place musher, Pete Kaiser. He arrived in Nome with eight dogs only 1 hour 24 minutes after Ryan. As the 2019 champion, I can imagine he also arrived to much fanfare. After that, Richie Diehl pulled in with 7 dogs leading the way an hour and four minutes later. Our fourth musher also just arrived in Nome in as I write this, so atta boy Matt Hall and his 7 dogs as well!!
We have 2 mushers racing between Safety and Nome, 4 mushers out of White Mountain on the way to Safety, and 2 mushers finishing up their 8-hours in White Mountain. Working backward up the trail, the next four teams are reported out of Elim, one is resting in Elim, two are between Elim and Koyuk on the trail, and four are in Koyuk - race mile 827. Which brings us to the twins!
My last post left the twins in Unalakleet, resting after their long run, on Monday afternoon. They remained in checkpoint for just under six hours, pulling their snow hooks and hitting the trail before 8:30pm Monday evening. Kristy returned one dog from Una (or, rather, sent it forward, as dogs from this checkpoint on will be transported on to Nome to await their teams rather than back to Anchorage). That gives her 8 canine athletes in front of her sled. Anna hasn't returned a dog since Grayling, giving her 10 in front of her sled.
Anna and Kristy spent six hours mushing the 40 miles from Una to Shaktoolik, arriving at 2:25am Tuesday morning. They planned a 5-6 hour rest here, but Mother Nature had other plans. A nasty ground blizzard kicked up. With temps already around -4F, a 28mph or more wind took the "feels like" down to 30 below. Musher Deke Naabktgeboren had pulled out of Shak only a few minutes before the twins arrived, mushed 12 miles, and then spent the next 9 hours hunkered down at a shelter cabin along the trail. Taking his circumstances into account, Kristy and Anna ultimately stayed about seven and a half hours in Shak before deciding the ground blizzard was abating and it made sense to hit the trail again.
With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, it was a very good call. The twins spent just over 7 hours on the 50 miles between Shak and Koyuk. Deke and his team? They were out there for 14 hours and 50 minutes! But that's just the thing about Iditarod... and apparently a box of chocolates?... you never know what you're gonna get. Nor how quickly you get it! These coastal storms can be fast and furious, and almost completely out of nowhere.
Anna and Kristy were reported 20th and 21st, respectively, into Koyuk and we should see them take a 6 hour rest here (give or take). That would put them back on the trail around 11pm AKST Tuesday night with 48 miles to run to the next checkpoint of Elim. They still have 171 miles to cover once they do leave Koyuk before they reach Nome, but I'm finally consulting the last handful of checkpoints on my list!!
We still only have 3 teams scratched from the race and with 4 into Nome, we're left with 26 teams out on the trail. There may be a champion to celebrate, and it will be fun to see the top 10 secured. But this is never over until it's over, which means keeping an eye on the trail until the Red Lantern pulls into Nome.
The twins had extra time in Shak and bandwidth to boot, so here are a bunch of pics, direct from Kristy and Anna, of the trail so far. If you're anything like me, these shots will get your blood pumping enough to stick around until everyone is safely into Nome.
