Latest news with #53rdIditarodTrailSledDogRace
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Jessie Holmes wins the 2025 Iditarod
Richard Arlin WalkerICT Former reality TV star Jessie Holmes won the 53rd Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Friday, March 14, ending a run that was as commanding as the race was long. Holmes and his dog team crossed the finish line in Nome at 2:55 a.m. Alaska Time, finishing the 1,128-mile race in 10 days, 14 hours, 55 minutes 41 seconds. It was the longest race in Iditarod history after the trail was revised because of low snowfall totals on the usual route. Ryan Redington, Inupiaq, the only Alaska Native in the race, was on track to a top 10 finish. SUPPORT INDIGENOUS JOURNALISM. Holmes said the race was a 'magical' experience: crossing the Blueberry Hills to the Norton Sound coast, the Northern Lights dancing in the night sky and the moon shining on the snow, the thoughts of race legends who've inspired him and the anticipation of joining them in the exclusive club of Iditarod champions. And so he has. 'It's been 10 quality days. I definitely got my money's worth,' Holmes told race officials at the finish line. 'I damn sure ain't tired.' He shared the spotlight at the finish line with two of his dogs, Hercules and Polar, calling them 'the brains behind the operation.' Holmes, an Alabama native who moved to Alaska in 2004, is perhaps best known for his regular appearances on NatGeo's 'Life Below Zero' from 2015-2023. He is not a newcomer to the Iditarod, having previously finished third in 2022 and 2024, fifth in 2023, ninth in 2020, and seventh in his first Iditarod in 2017, garnering Rookie of the Year honors. He also won the 2017 Kobuk 440, a highly respected mid-distance race in Kotzebue. Holmes works as a carpenter and lives in Nenana in the Alaska interior, where conditions were ideal for training this season. The musher and team's experience, discipline and training showed in their performance. Holmes, Matt Hall and Paige Drobny leapfrogged for the lead for much of the race, but Holmes outpaced and out-rested them to widen a lead that became unsurpassable by White Mountain, where all mushers and teams are required to take an eight-hour rest. Holmes left White Mountain for Safety and Nome three hours before Hall and six hours before Drobny. At the time Holmes crossed the finish line, Hall was leaving Safety at mile 1106 on his way to a second consecutive second-place finish. Drobny was 22 miles behind Hall and on her way to finishing third. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the top 10 was expected to be rounded out by three-time past champion Mitch Seavey, Michelle Phillips, Bailey Vitello, Travis Beals, Redington, Mille Porsild, and Matt Failor or Ryan Dyche. Holmes received a check for $57,200. On his charge to Nome, Holmes also won awards for being the first musher to reach White Mountain, the Bering Sea coast, the halfway mark of Grayling, and the checkpoint at Kaltag. His winnings from those awards total $4,500 in cash, $4,500 in gold nuggets, 25 pounds of fresh Bristol Bay salmon and multiple trophies to commemorate each achievement. Commentator Bruce Lee, an Iditarod veteran, said Holmes' team seemed energized by the cheering crowds as they neared the finish line under police escort. The energy they displayed after the finish seemed to be a testament to their pre-season training and care during the race. Holmes showed 'remarkable strategic thinking' throughout the race, the Iditarod Race Committee said in a statement issued after the finish. Holmes made 'well-timed decisions in response to the unpredictable challenges that the Iditarod is known for. His careful balance of speed and caution allowed him to maintain a lead in the final stretch, with his sled dog team displaying exceptional endurance and teamwork.' After the finish, Holmes snacked his dogs on beef steaks and walked over to greet the crowds and take selfies with fans. The celebrity energy and crowd reaction prompted Iditarod Insider commentator Greg Heiser to quip, 'Jessie Holmes for president!' Holmes, 43, was born in Alabama and moved at age 18 to Montana, where he worked as a carpenter for three years. He made it to Alaska in 2004, running dogs on a remote trap line on the Yukon River, and has lived in the Last Frontier since. His love of the wilderness and sled dogs eventually led to his competing in sprint and distance races. Redington was set to claim his fifth top 10 finish. He won the championship in 2023 and finished ninth in 2022, seventh in 2021, and eighth in 2020. He's also a two-time champion of the Kobuk 440 in Kotzebue and the John Beargrease Memorial Sled Dog Marathon in northern Minnesota. Redington's grandfather, Joe Redington Sr., who was non-Native, founded the race in 1973 to celebrate the heritage of the Alaska sled dog. The race was won by Alaska Natives in 1974, 1975, 1976, 2011, 2019 and 2023. The top three finishers in 1974 and 2023 were Alaska Natives. And 2011 champion John Baker, Inupiaq, is the sixth-winningest Iditarod musher of all time, with a total of $602,658 in earnings in 22 races. Throughout the race, Redington seemed to enjoy being on the trail with his dogs. 'The team is doing good. They're a little frisky yet,' Redington told Iditarod Insider on March 12. 'They're having fun and it's an enjoyable team to mush. … We had a really nice run last night. It seemed like almost a full moon. The only thing that could have made it better would have been Northern Lights to go with it.' Thirty-three mushers and teams left the starting line in Fairbanks on March 3, one of the smallest fields in the race's history. Some 23 mushers and teams were still in the race on March 14, believed to be the smallest field of finishers in the race's 53 years. From Fairbanks, mushers and dogs traveled 456 miles along the Yukon River to Kaltag, then turned south on a 329-mile loop to Shageluk and back. Upon returning to Kaltag, mushers and dogs turned west on an 81-mile run to Unalakleet, then traversed the Norton Sound coast on the 262 miles to the finish line in Nome. Our stories are worth telling. Our stories are worth sharing. Our stories are worth your support. Contribute today to help ICT carry out its critical mission. Sign up for ICT's free newsletter. ICT, formerly Indian Country Today, is a nonprofit news organization that covers the Indigenous world with a daily digital platform and news broadcast with international viewership.
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
IDITAROD NOTEBOOK: News from the Trail for 2025
Editor's note: This story will be updated as the mushers advance in the 2025 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Check back for more details. Richard Arlin WalkerICT Thirty-three mushers and dog teams set off from Fairbanks to Nome on Monday, March 3, in the 53rd Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. This year's race is unique in many ways. Here are some highlights. Serum Run: The 2025 Iditarod takes place during the 100th anniversary of the Serum Run of 1925, a relay of mushers and dog teams that fended off a diphtheria epidemic by delivering antitoxin to remote Alaska communities. The sled dog had been part of Alaska Native life for centuries, but – thanks to coverage in newspapers and on radio – the Serum Run of 1925 cemented the Alaska sled dog in the world's eyes as a symbol of grit and tenacity. Family ties: The Iditarod was founded in 1973 to keep alive the heritage of the Alaska sled dog, which was being supplanted by snow machines (snowmobiles, to you lower 48ers). This year's race features several mushers with family ties to the first Iditarod: past champion Ryan Redington, grandson of race founder Joe Redington Sr.; three-time champion Mitch Seavey, whose father Dan competed in the first and 40th Iditarods, and several other in between; Jason Mackey, whose father Dick raced in the first Iditarod and won the race in 1978; and Brenda Mackey, Dick's granddaughter and Jason's niece. All told, six Mackeys, six Redingtons and six Seaveys have raced in the Iditarod. The Mackeys have produced three champions, the Seaveys two, and the Redingtons one. Climate change: This year's race casts the spotlight, as it has in past years, on a changing climate in Alaska. An estimated 114 Alaska Native communities 'face some degree of infrastructure damage from erosion, flooding or permafrost melt,' the Associated Press reported, quoting a January 2024 report from the Alaska Native Health Tribal Consortium. Thawing permafrost is causing riverbank loss along the Kuskokwim and the Yukon rivers. Several pre-Iditarod mid-distance races were canceled or rescheduled this year because of unusually warm weather and lack of snow; the Iditarod was also affected. The race usually starts in Willow and ends in Nome, a distance of 975 or 998 miles, depending on a route that alternates between odd and even years. But because of hazardous trail conditions resulting from lack of snow, this year's race start was moved to Fairbanks. The race distance increased by about 130 miles. Mushers and dog teams will check in at Nenana, Manley, Tanana, Ruby, Galena, Nulato, Kaltag, Eagle Island, Grayling, Anvik, Shageluk, Unalakleet, Shaktoolik, Koyuk, Elim, White Mountain and Safety before reaching Nome. Total distance: 1,128 miles, according to the Iditarod Race Committee. Strategy and endurance: Mushers and dog teams are required to take one 24-hour rest and two eight-hour rests, although mushers generally feed and rest their teams as needed off-trail or at checkpoints. Training, nutrition, pace and timing of rests are all part of a team's strategy. But that was upended with the move of the race start to Fairbanks. The route from Fairbanks to Nome is flatter than Willow to Nome, and mushers may decide to travel farther before taking their required 24-hour rest. But they'll have to contend with conditions along the Yukon River. 'If you've been on the lower Yukon River, where that river is a mile wide, if there's a wind it's just like being on the Bering Sea coast,' Iditarod veteran Bruce Lee said on Iditarod Insider. 'The trail blows in and it can be very challenging, physically and mentally, for both mushers and dogs.' Representing the underrepresented: Ryan Redington, Inupiaq, is one of six Alaska Natives to win the Iditarod but is the only Indigenous Alaskan in this year's race. A retired Iditarod veteran, Mike Williams Sr., Yup'ik, said in earlier interviews that the cost of flying in food and supplies and taking time off from work to travel to good training grounds is expensive for rural Alaska Native mushers. Another musher, 2019 champion Peter Kaiser, Yup'ik, said he's taking a break after a tough training season made tougher by lack of snow. Alaska Native mushers were once a dominant force in the Iditarod. The race was won by Alaska Natives in 1974, 1975, 1976, 2011, 2019 and 2023. The top three finishers in 1974 and 2023 were Alaska Natives. And 2011 champion John Baker, Inupiaq, is the sixth-winningest Iditarod musher of all time, with a total of $602,658 in earnings in 22 races. Williams said he hopes the Alaska Native presence in the Iditarod will rebuild. For him, it's a culturally significant event: sled dogs have been part of Alaska Native life for centuries, he said, and in the Iditarod mushers travel ancestral routes the way their ancestors did. Iditarod rookie Emily Ford is African-American, an Alaska transplant from Duluth, Minnesota, and a veteran of several challenging mid-distance races. She's mushing in the Iditarod because 'I want to continue to represent Black people in cold places.' She noted in her Iditarod biography the influence of Black cold-weather pioneers, among them North Pole expeditioner Matthew Henson, and Iditarod finishers Becca Moore and Newton Marshall. 'With an understanding and drive to show that anyone can adventure and everyone deserves to discover the outdoors, regardless of race, gender identity or upbringing, I continue to seek adventure and represent the underrepresented in outdoor spaces,' Ford said in her bio. A look at the competition: The field of 33 mushers includes 17 veterans and 16 rookies from four countries (Canada, Denmark, Norway, U.S.) and seven U.S. states (Alaska, Idaho, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Wisconsin). Three mushers are well-known from reality TV: Lauro Eklund, 'Mountain Men'; Jessie Holmes, 'Life Below Zero'; and Quince Mountain, 'Naked and Afraid'. Two mushers are past Iditarod champions: Ryan Redington, 2023; and Mitch Seavey, 2017, 2013, 2004. Nine have finished in the top 10, three are past second-place finishers. Seavey is by far the most seasoned musher, having competed in 27 Iditarods with 18 top 10 finishes. Redington has completed 10 Iditarods and has four top 10 finishes. Several 2025 Iditarod competitors tested their mettle in respected mid-distance races in January and February. Redington finished second in the Joe Redington Sr. Memorial Sled Dog Race, an annual 200-mile race that starts in Knik. Holmes won the Copper Basin 300, an annual 300-mile race that starts in Glennallen. Michelle Phillips won the 450-mile Yukon Quest, an annual race that starts in Teslin. No small task: Competing in the Iditarod is a logistical feat. Mushers drop food bags and bales of straw for dog beds at each checkpoint before the race. Volunteers staff checkpoints, make coffee, log musher and dog team's arrival and departure times, and do veterinary health checks. BY THE NUMBERSHere's a look at some of the numbers, from the Iditarod Trail Committee.*Pounds of dog food: 180,000*Dog booties: 100,000*Bales of straw: 1,200*Cups of coffee: 25,000*Number of volunteers: 1,500
