Email not displaying correctly? View the web version

Hi, ADN Iditarod fans,

Veteran musher Jessie Holmes is maintaining a slight but consistent lead over two other Iditarod competitors as the three-team group pushes up the Bering Sea coast on their way to White Mountain.

Holmes was the first to hit the coast on Tuesday evening. For being the first musher to reach the checkpoint of Unalakleet, he won 1 ounce of gold nuggets and a wooden carved loon.

Iditarod musher Jessie Holmes leaves Unalakleet in 2022. (Marc Lester / ADN)

Holmes stayed for just 12 minutes before continuing on to Shaktoolik and then Koyuk, which he reached around 11:30 a.m. today. Koyuk is about 170 miles from the finish line in Nome. 

“I’m here to win … if I can’t win with this team, I probably gotta find something else to do," Holmes told Iditarod Insider while in Kaltag.

Holmes will need to stay vigilant, as he was previously overtaken by Two Rivers’ Matt Hall and his Denali Highway neighbor Paige Drobny.

Hall left Shaktoolik just 11 minutes after Holmes this morning, and even passed Holmes as he was finishing a 5-hour rest in a shelter cabin north of Shaktoolik. Holmes told Iditarod Insider that for a while, the two teams ran side-by-side on parallel trails before he passed Hall once again.

Drobny, of Cantwell, is currently running in third, and also left Shaktoolik this morning after resting there for about two and a half hours.

None of the three mushers has ever won the Iditarod before, but all of them are race veterans who have been strong contenders in recent years.

Teams will be required to rest for 8 hours when they reach White Mountain. From there, it's a sprint to the finish with only the checkpoint of Safety separating them from the burled arch. 

Nome, photographed on Wednesday. (Loren Holmes / ADN)

Relative to normal Iditarods, this one started a day late and is approximately 150 miles longer. Based on recent run-times by champions, the finish will likely be late Thursday night or early Friday morning. Stay tuned for more updates as we await a winner and, as always, thanks for reading!

Happy trails, 

Megan Pacer
mpacer@adn.com

P.S. If you know someone who'd like to receive our Iditarod updates, or if someone forwarded this email to you, signing up for this newsletter is free at adn.com/newsletter.

ADVERTISEMENT