Holmes is 77 miles to victory

Riley Dyche (l) and Jessie Holmes (r) at the
2024 Iditarod Picnic & sign ups. June 29, 2024.
Wasilla, Alaska.

Jessie Holmes left the checkpoint of White Mountain for his hero's run to Nome. The next seventy seven miles will be anything but easy as the team still has to make it out of the Topkok Hills and out of the infamous Blowhole. We've seen mushers' races go sideways on the run from White Mountain to the final checkpoint of Safety. Jeff King will tell you that a large cushion of a lead does not mean your win is certain. 

Holmes seems prepared and confident. Leaving White Mountain the Life Below Zero star chose to stay an extra fifteen minutes past his mandatory 8 hour rest acknowledging he had a large enough lead over Matt Hall that he could afford to stick around. At 8 hours and 15 minutes, Jessie Holmes took his lead dogs' faces into his hands as he calmly said over and over "good boys, such good boys". After a couple of pats on their back the musher gently commanded "haw" and the team began to march out of the checkpoint.

The dogs all dressed in their coats to help combat the wind and conserve energy pointed their noses towards the trail and as volunteers and onlookers cheered on Jessie Holmes shouted a thank you to everyone before letting off a "Woo Hoo!" and took off down the trail.

The winds have picked up on the coast, though reports for the Topkok Hills and Blowhole are few and far between and just basically say "there's always wind". In a blink of an eye the always wind can become harrowing. Holmes has run several Iditarods where the winds played a role in how the end of the race played out. He will no doubt prepare as best he can for anything. He has 10 canine friends in front of him he is responsible for - he has their needs before he can win.

From the Blowhole will be the checkpoint of Safety, a little roadhouse that will no doubt have fans and friends sitting and waiting to catch a glimpse of the soon to be champion. He'll get his final back slaps and instruction before he takes off for the final 22 miles. 

Those 22 miles is when many a champion says it sinks in. They'll have one more mountain to climb, Cape Nome will be the final test. From there it's a run along the Nome River and beach until they finally climb up onto Front Street. It's that run, though, from the river that gets the musher in the feels. The dream realized. Just several miles away from victory. The first one is always so hard and so rewarding. The musher will stop and thank his dogs, he'll make sure the bib is on straight, he'll look towards Nome.

Holmes is running now along those final 77 miles. The hills, the wind, the mountains, the ice. It won't be what he deals with for much longer. 77 miles until victory.

Judging by Jessie's out time and the average number of hours it takes for a finish - he should finish around 2:30am AKST. Make sure to check in well before that as teams sometimes come in a heck of a lot faster than they're supposed to (and sometimes things go to heck and nothing makes sense *eyes 2014*).