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Jessie Holmes says his dogs deserve all the credit for his ‘magical' first Iditarod win

Jessie Holmes says his dogs deserve all the credit for his ‘magical' first Iditarod win

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Bundled-up well wishers lined a street along the Bering Sea coastline in the early morning darkness Friday, cheering musher Jessie Holmes as he won Alaska's Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
Holmes pumped his fist as he ran alongside his sled with a headlamp beaming from his forehead, as he and his 10-dog team finished the 1,128-mile (1,815-kilometer) race across the Alaska wilderness in the Gold Rush town of Nome. The distance for this year's running was the longest in the Iditarod's 53-year history.
He said his win felt 'magical' and he gave credit — and hugs — to his dogs, whom he described as family.
Who is Jessie Holmes?
Holmes lives in the Interior Alaska community of Nenana, about 300 miles (480 kilometers) north of Anchorage, where he is a carpenter and lives a subsistence lifestyle. He found reality TV fame as a yearslong cast member of 'Life Below Zero,' a National Geographic program that documents the struggles of people living in remote parts of Alaska.
Originally from Alabama, Holmes has lived since 2004 in Alaska, where he found a passion for the wilderness and competing in sled dog races.
This year was Holmes' eighth Iditarod, and he has now finished in the top 10 six times, including third last year and in 2022. In 2018, his first Iditarod, he won Rookie of the Year honors with his seventh-place finish.
His win this year comes on the heels of adversity. He was helping repair buildings in the remote community of Golovin after the region was walloped by the remnants of Typhoon Merbok in 2022 when part of a house fell on him. He suffered several broken ribs and a broken wrist and was forced to train that winter with one arm, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
His dog team
Holmes said he bred the 10 dogs that took him to victory, adding that he had held each of them in his hands as puppies.
'I'm really proud of these dogs and I love them. And they did it. They deserve all the credit,' he said.
He lavished particular praise on his lead dogs, Hercules and Polar, who were adorned at the finish with floral wreaths.
'These are the best in the world, right here,' he said, smiling, his arms draped around them.
The trail
A lack of snow this year forced changes to the route and starting point of what is typically a 1,000-mile (1,609-kilometer) race.
There are checkpoints along the route for rest or refueling. Mushers feed their dogs and put out straw for them to lay down, and catch some sleep themselves if they can. Mushers' sleds must be able to carry and provide cover to injured or tired dogs, in addition to equipment and food. They must carry adequate emergency food for their dogs when leaving a checkpoint, as well as routine meals and snacks.
The temperature in Nome when Holmes finished was -6 degrees Fahrenheit (-21 Celsius). He crossed the finish line after 10 days, 14 hours, 55 minutes and 41 seconds of racing. He came in about three hours ahead of the second place finisher, Matt Hall. Paige Drobny finished third.
'I'll tell you one thing: I damn sure ain't tired,' Holmes said to a chorus of cheering fans. 'It's hard to put into words, but it's a magical feeling, and it's not about this moment now. It's about all those moments along the trail.'
He described witnessing a beautiful sunset, the moon shimmering on the snow and the northern lights, and said he had time to ponder his mentors and race legends who had died, 'looking down on me and telling me I could do it. I just wanted to join that club with them. I've wanted that for a long time.'
What does Holmes win?
Holmes is taking home $57,200 for his victory, in addition to awards including $4,500 worth of gold nuggets and 25 pounds of fresh salmon for finishing first in earlier stages.

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When the Dodgers fell behind in the third inning Tuesday night while desperately short of options on the mound, the defending World Series champions essentially decided to punt a game away to the San Diego Padres. Advertisement Matt Sauer, a 26-year-old minor leaguer getting his fourth callup already this season, threw 111 pitches while giving up 13 hits, three walks and nine runs and facing 30 batters in the Padres' 11-1 victory. The Dodgers allowed Sauer to pitch 4 2/3 innings with nothing close to his best stuff, and the Padres' loaded lineup feasted on him while turning a much-anticipated rivalry game into a laugher. Utilityman Kiké Hernández then took the mound during the sixth and pitched the final 2 1/3 innings, allowing three hits and one earned run while throwing 36 pitches — none faster than 57 mph. Manager Dave Roberts grimly acknowledged that the Dodgers essentially had to give up on trying to win this game after falling behind 3-0 in the third inning. 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Sauer accepted his bizarre fate, realizing the Dodgers needed his arm to fill innings while they regrouped. 'I've just got to be better with locating the ball,' said Sauer, who signed a minor league contract with the Dodgers last winter. 'I wouldn't necessarily say (it's) a pride thing. I know my role is to eat up innings, and I feel like I've got the frame and the repertoire to do that, and I'm going to go out there and compete every time.' Everyone recognizes that the deep-pocketed Dodgers' success over the past several years has happened despite a jaw-dropping slew of major pitching injuries. Last season was similar to this campaign, with practically every pitcher on the roster missing large chunks of the season and postseason. Advertisement Los Angeles won the World Series last season with an October starting rotation of late-season acquisition Jack Flaherty, Yamamoto (who missed three months of the regular season) and Walker Buehler (who also missed three months) supported by multiple bullpen games. Flaherty and Buehler then left in free agency. Roberts disagreed with the notion that the Dodgers' unlikely success with bullpen games last season — particularly in the NLDS against the Padres — could have given them false confidence in their ability to solve these major pitching woes with that strategy. 'Today wasn't really a bullpen day,' Roberts said. 'If you look at last year, certain games, you have nine guys that you have available, and we certainly didn't have that today. Somebody was going to have to take three to five innings. We weren't in that situation last year, so I don't think that's a fair comparison. When you get behind, you've got to kind of just ride it out.' ___ AP MLB:

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