Jessie Holmes is your 2025 Iditarod Champion

Jessie Holmes at the ReStart of Iditarod 53.
March 3, 2025. Fairbanks, Alaska.

It's a long way from Alabama - the Alaskan Wilderness - but somehow Jessie Holmes was drawn to the vast and sometimes lonely space. He embraced the lifestyle of living "off grid" away from what many consider modern civilization. He created a life he found worth living. He got dogs and used them to travel where vehicles could not go.

Those dogs became more than a team and a mode of transportation. They became a part of him.

When he first came to the Iditarod in 2018, many considered him in it for the glory. It was a publicity stunt. After all, he was starring in one of those "reality shows" based in Alaska that most Alaskans make fun of while secretly binge watching with the rest of the world. He won Rookie of the Year and immediately set his sights on winning the whole thing. He bragged about his dogs, his team, his ability. Some around him rolled his eyes still considering him "the reality star." If the critisisim got to him he never let it show.

Two years ago fans wondered if Jessie would even make it to the Iditarod. After having a house collapse on top of him while he was in Golovin helping clean up after the devastation from Typhoon Merbok many wondered if his body could heal up enough to be active. He had been lucky to be alive, and yet that winter he was on the back of his sled and competiting with the top teams. He came in 5th in 2023.

Last year Jessie felt it was his time. He had a strong team. He had fast times. But like most mushers, he left that confidence in himself and his dogs and he felt he needed to push. He needed to keep a certain team behind him. And so he pushed his team early. And it caught up to him. By the coast, Holmes' team was still hardy but their speed wasn't there. He watched as that team he was trying to keep behind him went ahead of him. Then a second team passed him by. He was third, and he vowed to learn from it.

And learn he has. The musher made his plan and stuck with it. Even with the late course change. He had campaigned for a course change after seeing trail conditions from the Iron Dog. The Fairbanks route was the safer route. It was going to be, by some, to be the easier route. It didn't matter it would be longer, there'd be snow not dirt.

Then the Tanana decided to throw silt in the teams' faces. The trail wasn't as solid a trail as they thought. It was sugar snow. It was punchy. It. Was. Slow. The trail that was going to be 600 miles of "boring" river run proved to be anything but boring. It frustrated many of the top teams. But Jessie kept with it. Rarely did you hear a complaint in his interviews. It was just shrug it off and everyone has to run the same trail. 

He didn't fight to lead the whole way. He kept his cool. He kept to his schedule. Paige Drobny led into the 24. Matt Hall led to Kaltag. Jessie Holmes then made his move. He hit the loop and he kept Hall and Drobny behind him. Every run he'd gain a little more. The musher had banked so much rest by the halfway point it was clear that he was going to have to make a couple of mistakes before anyone could challenge him.

By the coast, it was all but over. He had over an hour lead and he was gaining more. No matter what Hall or Drobny pulled out of their hat, it didn't matter. Then the big runs to try and catch him happened and that gave the musher a three hour cushion. Only mother nature could stop him, and she was all too kind. He couldn't have asked for better weather to run that final 77 miles to Nome. Under a full moon, Jessie ran that "magic run" he's been working towards for seven years.

Seven years. It only took him seven years to get here. Seven years for "the reality star" to prove his team belongs here (we can argue he proved it before now).

As the team ran under the burled arch at 2:56am he fist pumped his way to victory. Nicole the checker went through the checklist, she announced him the Iditarod champion. She announced his win in ten days and change. "Those were ten quality days," the musher stated, "I got my monies worth." 

Holmes was all smiles, handshaking everyone in the crowd. He fed his team giant steaks cut specifically for them by his friend and former employer, a butcher in Fairbanks. When asked for his thoughts "I damn sure ain't tired," he quipped. Everyone watching could see the electric energy bursting from the musher who for over 10 days ran behind his team, cared for his team, asked so much of his team. 

He chose his leaders, littermates, Polar and Hercules for the yellow roses, but he could have taken all of them up there with him if they would let him. Looking over his ten teammates he mused, "It's not about this moment. It's about all those moments on the trail."

Thirty-three teams started the race. At the time of Jessie's finish, twenty-three teams were on the trail. The first one signing off the trail and collecting his spot in Iditarod history at 2:55:41am. It was what is considered the longest Iditarod race in history milewise and he did it in 10 days, 14 hours, 55 minutes, and 41 seconds.

2024 Copper Basin 300 musher roster

The "hardest 300 mile" sled dog race is this weekend and it has a healthy roster of veterans and newbies alike. While all of the mushers have many miles under their belts, there's a big gap between experiences. We have a couple of Iditarod Champions, several rookies, and all those in between. Famous family names, a couple of "reality stars" (who are more than just an Alaskan version of the Kardashians)... and all of them are gearing up for a 300 miles race known for its tough trails and frigid cold temps.

We'll discuss that all in the race preview in the coming days, but let's look at the roster as it stands. Note that if you go to the race's web page they still have withdrawn mushers listed, but this roster has taken them off - as well as two names that have announced on their social media pages that they are not planning to run after all (Brent Sass and Matt Randall). So this roster may not look like the official one, however once bib numbers are drawn we'll know who all will be racing and the roster will be updated on the blog to reflect those changes.

Without further adieu:

Honorary Musher (Bib 1) Tim Taylor

Bib	Musher	Kennel	Link	Link	Link
2	Daniel Klein	Redington Mushing	Website	Facebook	Instagram
3	Jacob Witkop	Piledriver Kennel		Facebook	Instagram
4	Hunter Keefe	Redington Mush Alaska	Website	Facebook	Instagram
5	Nicholas Petit	Team Petit Racing	Website	Facebook	Instagram
6	Kelsey Winters	Can't Stop Racing Kennel?		Facebook	Instagram
7	Sadie Lindquist	Seavey's Ididaride	Website	Facebook	Instagram
8	Lara Kittelson	Seavey's Ididaride	Website	Facebook	Instagram
9	Cody Strathe	Squid Acres	Website	Facebook	Instagram
10	Kristy Berington	Seeing Double Racing	Website	Facebook	Instagram
11	Joey Sabin	VOA Racin	Website	Facebook	Instagram
12	Emily Ford	Shameless Huskies	Website	Facebook	Instagram
13	Tony Angelo	Bella Kennel		Facebook
14	Jessie Holmes	Can't Stop Racing Kennel	Website	Facebook	Instagram
15	Matt Hall	Silver Ace Sled Dogs	Website	Facebook	Instagram
16	Justin Olnes	ReRun Kennel	Website	Facebook	Instagram
17	Josi Thyr	There & Back Again Sled Dogs	Website	Facebook	Instagram
18	Samantha LaLonde	Dallas Seavey Racing		Facebook	Instagram
19	Sydnie Bahl	Dream a Dream Kennel	Website	Facebook
20	Elke Hall	Silver Ace Sled Dogs	Website	Facebook	Instagram
21	Dallas Seavey	Dallas Seavey Racing	Website	Facebook	Instagram
22	Jonah Bacon	Nautique Sky Kennel	Website	Facebook	Instagram
23	Treven Hunter	Dallas Seavey Racing		Facebook	Instagram
24	Michael Dolinar	Happy Trails Kennel		Facebook	Instagram
25	Misha Wiljes	WW Kennel	Website	Facebook
26	Lauro Eklund	Skookum Expeditions	Website	Facebook	Instagram
27	Annette Llanes	Honky Tonk Kennel		Facebook	Instagram
28	Paige Drobny	Squid Acres	Website	Facebook	Instagram
29	Michael Parker	Northern Whites Kennel	Website	Facebook	Instagram
30	Sean Williams	Alaska Mushing School	Website	Facebook	Instagram
31	Brent Sass	Wild & Free Racing	Website	Facebook	Instagram
32	Matt Paveglio	Werewolf Mushing	Website	Facebook	Instagram
33	Calvin Daugherty	Seavey's Ididaride	Website	Facebook	Instagram

Edited 8:30pm January 12.

Who are you excited to see on the list? Predictions? Comment below with your thoughts and who you're cheering for!

And, as always, you can Buy me a slice of pizza to help keep the blog up and running. It's always appreciated but never expected.  

Redington first into the halfway point

Knik Lake is bustling with activity tonight as teams come charging into the checkpoint and their mandatory six hour (plus time differential) rest. First in was Iditarod Champion Ryan Redington driving a "young team". Redington was a wildcard in the race when it was revealed he was giving his A team to Wade Marrs to run while he took a "puppy" team out. According to Ryan's kennel page, the puppy team is actually a few of his young dogs combined with some dogs out of his father's kennel - so not an entirely green team... well... other than the Ryan Redington Green.

By 9pm the first ten teams were into the checkpoint - joining Redington were Josh McNeal, Ed Hopkins, Amanda Otto, Dave Turner, Brent Sass, Emily Robinson, Michelle Phillips, Eddie Burke Jr, and Travis Beals. 

Because of start order, Brent Sass should be first out of the checkpoint at 2:32 Sunday Morning, just seven minutes behind him will be Jr. Mushing superstar Emily Robinson. The junior musher has dominated many of the races she's entered both junior and combined. According to her racing kennel page this is her "biggest race to date", but it doesn't seem to have fazed her as she isn't just hanging in there with the big dawgs, she's dominating. At the start Saturday Morning fans noticed her controlled demeanor and focus. 

Teams will continue to come through the late night and should all be in by the time teams start to leave early Sunday morning. You can keep up with in and out times from the Knik 200's spread sheet.

There was one scratch today, Matt Randall was forced to scratch after sustaining a "race ending" knee injury. Randall was working on his Iditarod qualifiers, and the Knik 200 was going to complete his requirements. 

There's about five hours left before the race starts up again and takes it to the next level. Once the mandatory rest is complete the playing field will be level and it will be whoever is first across the finish line who wins. 

Redington leads Knik 200 into first checkpoint

The "puppy team" of Ryan Redington came into Eagle Quest 1 Checkpoint alongside Josh McNeal's team at 1:55pm Alaska time. At about 45 miles into the 200 mile race, it's far from a declaration of his intentions, but it still had people talking for much of the day as they watched Ryan's tracker stay in the lead or very close to it.

Ed Hopkins rounded out the first three into the checkpoint just three minutes behind. Ryan had the fastest time into the checkpoint by about three minutes when you factored in the time differential. Redington reportedly grabbed straw and plans to camp somewhere in the 55 miles from the checkpoint to the halfway point back on Knik Lake where a mandatory 6hr+time differential rest awaits the teams.

Redington's team is made up of a combination of young dogs from his kennel plus dogs from his dad's kennel as well as one from Hunter Keefe. While it's still not sure what Ryan's plans are, it looks like he'll fall back a bit once he decides where to camp on the trail. 

The front runners are at least 4.5 hours until the halfway point judging by trackers. It'll be an early morning start tomorrow for many off of their differential. 

2023 Iditarod top ten (ish)

One week from today we'll be cheering teams in Anchorage as they run through the city in the Ceremonial Start of Iditarod 51. The roster of thirty-three dog teams is a possible signal of a new era as many of the fan favorites chose to either sit this season out, or have moved on into retirement. Still, the race has nine rookie teams, and eight women are in the 51st running of the last great race. 

With those thirty-three teams we have a highly competitive field as well as the potential for many teams to jump up in standings and make themselves known. Time will tell how the rosters of the future shake out and whether or not we'll have an uptick in entries. But, for now, we have a strong roster of newbies and veterans. Only two teams have won Iditarod previously, so it is a true dawning of a new era in the sport.

Even though it's a small roster it's a competitive one. So many strong teams with the ability to take the top prize are in this race. It's time to do a rundown of who has the best chance to be in the top ten.

Brent Sass - The reigning Iditarod Champion won by running through a ground storm in the Topkok Hills. In true Iditarod fashion the finish was a dramatic one as the same storm hammered many of the teams (to the point where Martin Buser decided he'd retire after surviving the storm). Sass is coming off his Yukon Quest 550 win and many of his team will be with him on the run to Nome. Expect Brent to run his own race spending time out of checkpoints (except for mandatory rests).

Dan Kaduce - Best dog care anywhere could easily be Kaduce's motto. The musher came in fourth running a strong team of all 14 dogs from start to finish. He challenged for third for most of the race (and sometimes was even leading or nearly leading). Dan (and Jodi) has a solid program in Dew Claw Kennel and it's coming to fruition. With this small but highly competitive roster it won't be surprising to see Dan come out near the top.

Eddie Burke Jr - It isn't often a rookie gets named in a top ten list, but Burke has proven himself capable to put on a winning race. The 2023 Knik 200 champion is running a team out of Wildstyle Racing owned by Aaron Burmeister and Tony Browning, with Burmeister taking a step back from racing to focus on family, Burke is running a powerhouse team that just two years ago nearly took the prize in Iditarod 49. Burke has learned from two of the best mushers in the business and should challenge for a top ten spot. It will really come down to whether or not Burke remains focused on running his race, or if he makes the rookie mistake of racing others.

Jessie Holmes - That Jessie Holmes is even on the roster is a miracle after the musher was in a life threatning accident this summer. Holmes managed to prove that his recovery has gone exceedingly well this season as he challenged for top placement in several mid-distance races before returning home to continue to train for the big one. Holmes was third last year and appears to have no plans of slowing his team down. After all, this is Team Can't Stop we're talking about.

Jessie Royer - The leader of "The J Team" is back to Iditarod having taken last year off due to the Covid restrictions in Canada (she travels from Montana), among other reasons. Royer is a perennial favorite of fans, as well as a consistent top ten (and top five) finisher of the last great race. She successfully managed a top five finish with SIXTEEN dogs on the Iditarod (the only to do so). Her dog care is outstanding as is her competitive drive. Royer just won the Race to the Sky 300 mile race in Montana and her team looks fantastic as ever. Expect Jessie to stick to the front of the pack, but not push until the Coast.

Mille Porsild - Mille is coming off a somewhat rocky season with mid-distance races. She had some rough patches before coming second in the Yukon Quest 450 in Canada just a couple of weeks ago. In an incredibly short roster that wasn't as competitive as its Alaskan counterpart, Mille was a rookie in name only. Porsild has extensive experience within the sport of mushing as well as expedition mushing. She's as tough as they come and can bark orders better than any grizzled musher on the trail. She was 14th last year in a very difficult finish of a race (where she was originally penalized and then had that penalty repealed). It will be interesting to see how she does in a smaller roster chock full of competitive teams.

Nicolas Petit - Petit has an outside chance of taking the top prize, but he'll most likely have no trouble making the top ten. Petit likes to burst out with speed from the get go and just hope that his team can make the full 900+ miles to the finish line with enough of a lead that when they start to stall out/get bored/decide to go on a camping trip that he can keep everyone behind him. Petit prides himself on not having a race strategy and just follows the dog's lead. He calls them his kids, and they supposedly call him dad, and so he's well liked by many. He also loves to troll social media and the journalists so he gives some of the best soundbites. Never dull with Nic, for sure, but I personally wish he'd run a race with a plan so that we could REALLY see what his dogs can do.

Pete Kaiser - The 2019 Iditarod Champion just won yet another Kusko 300 title (fighting off Matt Failor to take it). The champion musher originally did not plan on running Iditarod 51, but, like many mushers before him, the draw was just too great a pull and he's back. Pete is one of the best in the business and takes his role as mentor and role model seriously. Kaiser will no doubt be one of the teams to follow, expect him to sit back for the first half of the race to give his team the best shot to overtake the teams ahead of him when they get to their "home field" of the Western Alaska coast.

Ramey Smyth - Never, ever, ever, EVER count a Smyth out. The son of Iditarod legends Bud Smyth and Lolly Medley was an incredibly late entry to this year's Iditarod (we're talking FEBRUARY late). Smyth is another one of those consistent top 20 finishers who, with this smaller roster, could see a jump in number just as there will be fewer teams to leap frog over. Ramey is another who bursts out on the Coast and eats up a lot of trail on the front runners (in 2012 he made a HUGE leap on the coast and had the Seavey family VERY worried he would run down Dallas). Rumor has it the Smyth boys wear running shoes on the final leg into Nome. Ramey is the dark horse in this roster as we haven't really seen what his team can do in the smaller races (he entered them only to withdraw). Still, if he was willing to make the leap into running this race, he must believe in his team which means WATCH OUT.

Matt Failor, Matt Hall, Richie Diehl, Wade Marrs - I really could do a top fifteen but I'll just add these four names to the tenth spot because I believe we'll see a combo of this quartet in the top ten, but I can't place my finger on which of these teams has the best shot. Failor and Hall should see their standings in the Last Great Race rise due to the shorter roster as well as they're both having really great seasons. And Marrs is back to Iditarod after having to take time away due to the Covid-19 vaccination policy. Richie Diehl is another consistent top 20 team who knows how to manage a race. Marrs was running a great Yukon 550 until his dogs decided that they wanted to make puppies more than they wanted to run a dog race, that shouldn't be an issue now for Iditarod.

It also should be noted that while there isn't a Seavey on the roster, their dogs are running. Mitch Seavey's "A-Team" is being run by Christian Turner (who ran his rookie race with Dallas Seavey's puppy team), though the team was trained mostly by Mitch and crew in Sterling before Turner could make the trip over from Australia. Dallas Seavey has leased a team of A-list dogs to friend and former competitor Kelly Maixner. Maixner used to run dogs out of his own kennel and has hit the top 10 in the past. Kelly did train with the team on most weekends, but again the majority of the training went to Dallas's crew in Talkeetna. Still, both mushers and teams are pros and it will be interesting to see what they come up with on the trip to Nome.

In all honesty, the majority of the thirty three name roster have a great shot at being in the top ten and it will come down to strategy, weather, and trail conditions. It's a heavy snow year for most of Alaska and mother nature's had a lot of ups and downs lately temperature wise so I expect this race to throw a little bit of everything at the teams. As always, Iditarod will no doubt give much drama and excitement over their 10-14 days of racing. Time will tell how it all shakes out, of course, but for now we choose our fantasy teams and discuss what may happen.

Who do YOU have in your top ten? Thoughts on who maybe shouldn't be on this list and who should be there instead? Comment below with your take on Iditarod 51!

*Thanks to those who caught my adding a name to the roster that wasn't on there, and to those that noticed I didn't make mention of the Seavey teams.

As always, if you like what you see and want to support my addiction (I mean HOBBY) of following these races and stalking (I mean cheering on) the mushers, you can buy me a slice of pizza (that really goes to paying for my internet/web expenses).

2023 Yukon Quest Alaska preview

 Hello Readers!

Thank you so much for all of the support this year so far. You're blowing me away with your comments, messages, and slices of pizza. All so very much appreciated and I hope you know that.

As many of you know I'm also now co-hosting full time Mushing Radio with Robert Forto over at First Paw Media. I'm really enjoying it and appreciate everyone tuning in. That being said between the podcast, my work schedule, and just every day life I'm starting to fall behind on some of the blog. 

Since we're recording pre-race episodes for most of the races I also feature on the blog, from time to time I'm just not going to get a preview blog post up. I hope you understand! For those times I'll just link or embed the podcast episode here. I still hope to blog during races as time allows, but I am still learning how to juggle all the new responsibilities with the old ones. 

All that to say, I obviously did not get a preview post done for the YQA - but Robert and I talked about it last night on Mushing Radio so give it a listen! Thank you for your understanding and your support. 

Click here to listen.