Most teams came in with dogs looking strong, perky, and in many cases wondering why they were stopping. The mushers looked much worse for wear with deep windburn evident on their faces and any other place that skin was exposed to the elements. The wind started the first full day of the race and barely ever let up. Temps for the first half of the race saw consistent negative temps dropping to more than -40F at night (when teams do their best running). The dogs seem to thrive in these conditions, but the mushers look exhausted no matter how much rest they managed on the trail.
Travis Beals is our second place finisher this year. The musher's previous highest placement has been fifth place in 2019. Beals has had a roller coaster of a season emotionally. At the end of 2025 his mother died, and just a few weeks later his second son was born. Both events changed some plans for racing leading up to Iditarod, and some speculated what Travis would do here on the race to Nome. The musher is one of the best students of the trail, taking every race and learning something from it. He said in his burled arch interview that he learned a lot about himself and the dogs this year and was so very proud of the accomplishment. Though in earlier race interviews Beals seemed disappointed that he couldn't come up with the winning strategy, he will no doubt look back on this one with pride.
Jeff Deeter was a surprise third place finish after having held his team further back early in the race. Deeter made a push on the run from Unalakleet to Koyuk, picking off teams one by one. Like Beals it seems the only thing stopping Deeter from an even higher placement was running out of real estate. The musher was all smiles as he made his way under the burled arch and his dogs were happily wagging their tails as they recognized KattiJo Deeter in the chute. Deeter came into Nome at 5:10am AKDST.
Paige Drobny finished fourth, a noble battle at the end of a race where she spent most of the time in second place. Just getting to the start line this year was a win for Paige as she has been battling "an aggressive form of breast cancer" since her diagnosis in August. Drobny and her Squids ran a beautiful race, but due to the extreme cold the musher had issues with equipment pretty much from the start. Her alarm clock died on her and she overslept on a key rest out on the trail running to the Yukon. Her phone battery died and she had no way to charge it on the trail because her USB cables snapped in the cold making her external chargers useless. She was tired. Probably more tired than she expected with the cold zapping every musher's energy quickly. But she perservered. She said in Unalakleet she believed her dogs capable of catching Jessie at that point, but that she didn't believe in pushing them to their limit to do so. Dogs first. Paige came in Wednesday at 5:38am AKDST after racing Deeter all the way.
Wade Marrs had a steep learning curve running dogs he admitted under the burled arch were a different speed than what he was used to. The team of dogs out of Mitch Seavey's kennel that he integrated with several of his own kennel weren't quite as speedy as he was used to but "they never quit". Many fans are saying Marrs had the "cutest" finish as he was met but his two young sons who excitedly yelled out "DADA" when they realized the musher in the chute was theirs. The oldest chasing his dad around wanting to be close, the younger going up to each dog and giving them big hugs. Marrs ran a style similar to that of Seavey where he held back through the half way point where he quickly picked off teams and jumped into the top ten, ending in fifth place. After a three year hiatus Marrs reminded everyone why he's one to watch.
Matt Hall had a heck of a first leg of the 2026 Iditarod. His dogs weren't eating like they should. He had to baby them along and run them with the calories they were taking in. His early interviews didn't have panic or even frustration in them, just a quiet concern. He hoped, he said, that he could get them eating just so they could finish. Hall had high hopes for this year. The last two Iditarod's he'd come second and many believed he had the team that could challenge Drobny and Holmes. After they took their 24 in Ophir it seemed to turn around for Hall and he quickly made up for lost time and he found his way to a sixth place finish. Hall finished at 1:27pm AKDST.
Riley Dyche may have to rethink his kennel name pretty soon. The Dark Horse Kennel certainly gave off that vibe as he sat in wait the whole race. He quietly made moves to surprise a team or two every step of the way. One can imagine hearing the JAWS theme while watching his tracker on the GPS. Riley is one of those mushers who has become known for his use of spreadsheets and research to study race strategies of the champions of the races he runs. He kept everyone on their toes this year, and no doubt had some looking over their shoulder to see if he was coming up to overtake them. Riley finished Wednesday at 3:27pm AKDST.
Lauro Eklund was the unsuspected member of the top ten brigade coming in in tenth. The quiet and steady team made no real flashy statements or moves, just plugged along and took advantage of the missteps of others and the amazing management of their team. Lauro is one of those mushers you have a hard time not cheering for, he just seems like one of the good guys. Eklund has steadily improved in his three Iditarods making big jumps in the standings each time. He jumped another six places this year from his finish last year narrowly missing out on a possible "most improved" award (if that math has been mathed correctly which...) When Eklund came under the burled arch Wednesday the wind was ripping and he could barely be heard over it in his interview. He was happy to be off the trail so he could get out of the wind. Lauro came into Nome at 5:19pm AKDST.
Pete Kaiser was right behind Eklund finishing in ninth. The 2019 Iditarod Champion ran a strong race from start to finish while admitting that the first third was not his team's strong point. They train out in Bethel and there aren't quite the trails to match that first leg (just like there's nothing on the road system that quite matches the last third of the race). Kaiser was another team that was further back for much of the first half before blazing up the trail from Unalakleet onward. What made this race special for fans while watching Pete were the extra updates we got not from the typical team members at Kaiser Racing, but the live feeds of his daughter giving race updates each evening while her dad raced to Nome. Kaiser was a very last minute entry into this Iditarod and had a mix of young and veteran dogs. His return to the race after sitting last year out did not disappoint. Pete finished at 5:35pm AKDST.
Michelle Phillips was close behind to round out the top ten coming in just five minutes after Kaiser. Phillips had many fans sad to hear she was calling this her final Iditarod as a racer - saying she hoped to return as a volunteer/race judge. She repeated it under the burled arch that she was retiring from 1,000 mile races. Phillips has been a sold and steady competitor for years on the Iditarod and Quest trails and it is nice she can end that career with another top ten finish. Michelle finished at 5:40pm AKDST.
Hanna Lyrek may be the "most improved" musher of Iditarod 54 with her eleventh place finish in her second Iditarod. The 2022 Rookie of the Year jumped eight places this year (which if the math is mathing...). The Norwegian musher ran this race with a team of her own dogs, when asked what she had been doing between her first race and this one she simply said saving up to run Iditarod again. Hanna is one of many women in this year's race who had the tenacity to make a run for a top placement, and she just about cracked the top ten in an incredibly and deeply competitive roster. She held her own, took the trail as it came, and did so with a smile and positive attitude (a huge part of any successful race). Like most of the mushers coming off the trail the most difficult part of her race was the cold - it just never let up. Hanna finished at 7:03pm AKDST Wednesday.
Jessie Royer has run more Iditarods than any other musher in this year's race. When she hasn't run it she's volunteered for it. Royer is a name you just expect to be part of Iditarod. She toyed with the idea of retiring in an interview or two during Iditarod 54 (mainly around the time she was dealing with the worst sickness she said she'd ever remembered experiencing) but by the finish she was no longer talking retirement, just a coy "we'll see." Jessie was met with her traditional Mountain Dew at the burled arch. Jessie, too, referenced the cold noting that when they "left Montana it was 50 above, and three days later when we reached Fairbanks it was 40 below. We were in shock." She went on to explain that to combat the extreme difference in temps from what they trained in she had the dogs double coated for most of the race. Royer finished at 8:45pm AKDST.
Ryan Redington didn't give the IditaCrew much time to regroup after Royer pulled out of the chute as Redington was close behind. Dressed in his memorable green parka, the musher snacked his dogs and in typical Ryan fashion praised the race his grandfather created saying he ran Iditarod for the love of the race and love of the dogs. Redington started the race with a severe disadvantage - he was sick. His "gastrointestinal" struggles caused them to go much slower in the first half of the race as he tried to nurse himself back to health. He admitted to taking longer rests in checkpoints for himself, and thanked several mushers for their sportsmanship in helping him battle back to health. The 2023 Champion also gave a shout out to this year's Champ on a race well run. Ryan says they'll take this off-season to regroup and be back better prepared next year. Ryan finished at 9:02pm AKDST.
Seventeen teams are still out on the trail, with no other team expected in until early Thursday morning. The Red Lantern is currently resting in Elim. Nine teams are still making their way to White Mountain as this post gets published. Iditarod 54 is far from over and there are races within the race to continue to follow.
One such race is the Rookie of the Year which for much of the race looked to belong to Sam Martin, however Jesse Terry must have some jet boosters attached to his team because he hit the coast and flew up it passing everyone he could and overtaking Sam early Wednesday. The musher hasn't looked back. He's got some of the fastest speeds coming out of White Mountain and is quickly cutting the predicted finish time down. He could even be poised to have the fastest time from Safety to Nome (currently held by Jeff Deeter this race at 2 hours and 58 minutes).
As stated, a lot of race left. A lot of stories left. It ain't over til it's over as Yogi Berra once quipped.
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