Samantha LaLonde, rookie of the year

Samantha LaLonde's team at the Ceremonial Start
of Iditarod 53. March 1, 2025. Anchorage, AK.

The first rookie musher crossed under the burled arch early Sunday morning, becoming the 2025 Rookie of the Year. Samantha LaLonde of Farmington Hills, MI finished he race in 12 days, 14 hours, 20 minutes, and 56 seconds. LaLonde had nine dogs on her team when she came into Nome, leading the way was LaLonde's "baby girl" Gibbs. 

Samantha was running a team made up of 15 dogs from Dallas Seavey's kennel, and one very special dog all her own. Gibbs is Samantha's sled dog and Gibbs was a star leader in her Iditarod team leading in single lead for much of the final run into Nome (except when they hit the crowds and Gibbs got shy). Sam was incredibly proud from even before the race began to speak on how Gibbs (named for an NCIS character) had made her Iditarod team. For her pup to make it not all the way but to lead for much of it, the musher couldn't do anything but beam while talking about her.

From Nulato to Nome Sam was running with injury. As her team left the checkpoint of Nulato, Sam recounted, her powerful team took off a little too aggressively and she was slammed up against the berm they'd been parked next to and she "stepped wrong" causing an injury she was very worried was a broken foot. According to reports by her partner posting on Sam's Instagram page, "the gimp" was dealing with a sprained ankle. Another report later in the race said that her foot was so swollen she was unable to get her boot off. Mushers, right?

While Sam was out on the trail with her always jovial demeanor, back home her partner was gathering his own following on Instagram. Tucker's updates gave more insight into his and Sam's personalities than they did any sort of real race analysis, and fans ate it up. From putting a humorous spin to an injury, to sharing what Sam is eating on the trail (thank God for beef sticks), to even sharing what family and friends do in Nome as they wait for their hero to finish. Fans. Ate. It. Up. 

Samantha has worked toward her Iditarod moment for many years, she worked with several kennels before landing a couple of years ago in Dallas Seavey's kennel. Sam worked through her qualifiers, sometimes having the Iditarod champion handle for her in those races, and managed to be the lone representative of Dallas' kennel in the 2025 race. For many of the dogs on the team they've worked with Samantha to get to their Iditarod moment as well. Many rookies come to Iditarod in this same way, but all that hard work is their own and their bond with the dogs is strong.

For Samantha she was not focused on being the first rookie to finish. Her schedule was not one that in a normal year would be up there with the top, but she found herself comfortably in the middle of the pack of both rookies and veterans. As the unexpected difficulties of the trail compounded on the many... many.... MANY miles on the Yukon River, Samantha saw her position steadily rise. Her team managing every obstacle even after their musher didn't and injured herself. As she muscled through pain (imagine having to stand on a sprain on sled runners for hours at a time, and not always on smooth trail) the dogs kicked into that gear all too familiar after a week on the trail. Soon Samantha found herself running with rookie front runner Emily Ford. 

Though the two women had different schedules for their Iditarod, they found themselves on the coast together. As they made their way into Shaktoolik they formed a plan that they would run across the Norton Sound into Koyuk. A pact that many teams make as they cross the most anxiety ridden portion of the trail no matter what route they've taken to get there. They rested in Koyuk together, leaving just minutes apart, and there their schedules once again diverged. Sam was now going to do somewhat longer runs knowing her team could handle it as long as they kept a steady pace. They had an 8 hour mandatory layover in White Mountain and then a 77 mile jaunt to the finish. Ford chose a bit more of a conservative approach and remains on the trail Sunday morning.

Samantha LaLonde at 2:20am AKDT finished as the top rookie, perhaps not as planned, but certainly as earned as if he had. Her blue eyes bright, her smile wide. She laughed at some of the questions asked her by Nicolle the Clipboard Lady, she thanked "everybody" and then named some of them Dallas, Tucker, Her Parents, Tucker's parents... everybody. And the dogs. Those awesome nine dogs that took her all the way and the 16 who all worked to make sure their musher could get to Nome. 

Before Tucker signed off from Sam's account he announced that he and Sam have started their own kennel and encouraged all of their fans, old and new, to follow their journey post Iditarod.

Paige Drobny takes the lead in Iditarod

Paige Drobny came off of her 24 hour rest and took charge of the trail Friday morning, leaving Galena around 6:55am. Drobny stayed just 9 minutes in the checkpoint of Kaltag 1, long enough to grab supplies and straw before continuing down the trail.

Drobny is the first of the front runners to leave Kaltag, with Jessie Holmes still on his 24 and not set to leave until very early Saturday morning. Matt Hall is also off of his 24 in Galena and should be pulling into Kaltag soon. Nicolas Petit is also on his 24 in Kaltag and is a wildcard for the race, he should leave roughly eight hours after Holmes.

Rookie of the Year front runner Emily Ford is currently sitting in Kaltag having had a fantastic run to the checkpoint Friday. The musher told insider she plans to 24 here. Sam LaLonde, currently the second highest ranked rookie in this year's Iditarod is currently 24ing in Nulato.

Michelle Phillips and Ryan Redington have come off their 24 in Nulato and are on their way to Kaltag, while Seavey and Beals remain on their 24 in the checkpoint. 

The next leg of the race is the loop where mushers will run their team from Kaltag to Eagle Island to Grayling to Shageluk then to Anvik before returning to Grayling then Eagle Island and finally Kaltag. This is what we may call the second leg of the race as this is where teams must take their 8 hour mandatory rest. Expect teams who 24ed in Galena to rest sooner on "the loop" than those who are coming off their 24 in Nulato and Kaltag (though someone will no doubt not follow that "rule" and do something completely off the norm).

The back of the pack looks very different tonight with the number of scratches that happened today. Quince Mountain is firmly the Red Lantern at the moment, but the musher seems to have struggled a bit Friday and is falling off the pace he held earlier in the race. With fewer teams on a similar schedule still in the race, it will make it harder for Quince to keep up with the teams in front of him. While it's uncertain just how a team is considered "non competitive" and pulled from the race, it does typically happen if a musher falls too far behind and the race cannot keep personnel and checkpoints open indefnitely. We may not yet be at that point, but it is giving fans cause for concern for one of the favorite rookies in this year's race.

On just a general note, as fans are getting excited about a woman leading the Iditarod, it will be 40 years later this month that Libby Riddles was the first woman ever to win the Iditarod. The last woman to win was Susan Butcher in 1990. It's been 35 years since the age old saying of "Alaska: Where men are men and women win the Iditarod" rang true. No real reason to bring that up, just throwing it out there.

Hopefully fans enjoyed their "day off" as most teams took their 24. They will continue to do so for most of the Alaska night (except for the ones listed above, well, most of them) so fans should really take this as the final opportunity to get any real sleep. The race is on come Saturday.

Holmes out of Nulato, Phillips stays

Jessie Holmes was first into the checkpoint of Nulato Thursday night. The musher chose to grab a bale of straw and a couple of items before heading back down the trail. The assumption is the musher will take his 24 in Kaltag, which is next up for the musher. It's puzzling if he's taking straw and planning to 24 in Kaltag if the straw is just a ruse for those following behind, or if he's actually planning to go further into the race before 24ing.

This year the race is requiring teams to take a mandatory 8 rest on the "loop" part of the trail from Kaltag to Kaltag. If Holmes decides to not stay in Kaltag outbound checkpoint he could go to the very remote Eagle Island or Grayling to 24, and then he would most likely do his 8 on Kaltag inbound. This is all conjecture and it's no doubt what the mushers jockeying for position are trying to figure out. (there are other checkpoints, too, but if we try to stay with more tradition strategy of second leg racing...)

Michelle Phillips was close behind Holmes, coming into the checkpoint before Jessie had fully left. The livefeed went down as Phillips was coming in and it was speculated that she had also blown through the checkpoint, but her GPS tracker still has her INTO Nulato. It could be Phillips plans to take her 24 here before continuing on to the "second leg".

Further back is the chase pack of Mitch Seavey who spent 3.5 hours in Galena contemplating if he would 24 earlier than planned or if he would continue with his "plan A". Seavey told Insider in a rare interview for Iditarod 53 that plan A has him 24ing in Nulato. After assessing his team, the three-time Iditarod champion took off down the trail.

Travis Beals followed close behind, with Insider's Sean Underwood reporting that Travis had told him he was going to 24 here, but changed his plans. It's anyone's guess if Beals is feeling the pressure to not let Holmes, Phillips, and Seavey get too far ahead of him, or if he - like Seavey - reevaluated his team during his break. Beals spent a much longer time resting in the checkpoint and may overtake Mitch before reaching Nulato.

Nicolas Petit rounds out the top five currently on the GPS tracker. No one ever knows to expect from Nic except to expect nothing. So... not much commentary here (other than every time his team is on camera fans comment on how leggy his team is).

Matt Hall is still in Galena and at this point we can safely assume he is taking his 24.

At the back of the Pack, Deeter has picked off a few more teams after resting through the heat of the day on the trail. Quince Mountain, current Red Lantern, is also on the move again and closing in on the resting Mike Parker with the Northern Whites. Matt Failor is also resting on the trail just a little further up from Parker. 

Current top Rookie (which for Iditarod only "true"/first year rookies are eligible for rookie of the year) is still Emily Ford running with the Shameless Huskies kennel. The team is currently running in 13th place. 

Tomorrow may be the day for fans to nap, we seem to be headed into the 24 hour resting period for the race. It's all up in the air, but at somepoint teams will run out of trail where it makes sense to take the "reset" rest.