Only three teams came in on Tuesday, but Nome has been a steady stream of top teams coming under the burled arch Wednesday. By Noon the top ten had been completed, and at the time this blog posts fifteen total are into Nome.
While no record times were made last night with Dallas Seavey's win (he DID break the record of most wins, so it's still a big deal), it seems the champion lucked out and outran the storm that hit the infamous blow hole later that night and into the morning. The storm steadily grew Wednesday with many of the mushers reporting winds nearing hurricane force.
For the first time in Iditarod history four women found themselves in the top ten. This year's Rookie of the Year broke the top fifteen. It's quite possible that the most improved musher as well as fastest run from Safety to Nome are also going to be awarded to mushers who are already finished.
All three of the returning Iditarod Champions made it to Nome by Wednesday night. Each champion having their stories to tell of trials and triumphs.
Coming in second was Matt Hall at 9:57pm Tuesday. Hall was third coming into Elim, but managed to catch and pass Jessie Holmes in the checkpoint. Holmes chose to stay and Hall chose to keep going. Hall said he and the dogs trained for this exact push just days before the start of the race. Long days of being awake. The Silver Aces kennel had their best placement yet in Iditarod. Hall said his goal for this race was to beat last year's time, ironically he came in four hours slower than last year but came away with second place. (And Dallas Seavey won with close to the same time as Matt's finishing time last year!)
Jessie Holmes was next in third place at 11:18pm Tuesday. Holmes led or stayed in the top five for much of the race and especially made his move on the Yukon River. The musher had some of the top speeds in the first two legs of the race, but with his young team he decided to not push too hard on the coast. He was first into Unalakleet before never seeing the lead again. He stayed with Dallas and Matt for as long as he could, and was in second all the way until Elim. Seavey would say of Holmes that his team would flat out beat him in a speed race.
Fourth place was a challenge with three teams jockeying for that placement, but Jeff Deeter managed to take the prize in the end coming in at 2:52am Wednesday. Deeter had a difficult first half of the race with dogs who weren't eating or feeling well. He babied them along and by the time they hit the river Deeter saw they were ready to make up for lost time. And make up time he did. Deeter left after Travis Beals and managed to get a commanding lead on Beals well before they made it to the final checkpoint of Safety.
Fifth was Paige Drobny came in at 4:12am. Drobny picked off many top teams all along the way but made herself known to the competition on the Yukon. Paige and Deeter battled hard out of White Mountain before settling into their eventual placements. Drobny and The Squids looked happy and ready for more at the finish line.
Travis Beals finished in sixth Wednesday at 5:39am. Beals ended up fighting off the flu in the first leg of the race before pushing through and leading the race for over 300 miles. It wasn't until Beals and the Turning Heads kennel dogs were on the run to Unalakleet that Travis' race began to slow. Beals was hit by very cold weather and an eye injury he sustained in the fall during training reared its ugly head. For the rest of the race Travis spent much of it using only one eye having to keep his right eye shut. Travis was also in a very new position of leading the Iditarod and came away with much experience from this race.
Seventh place went to Mille Porsild at 8:23am. Mille's race almost didn't happen. She lost her mother earlier in the season and spent time away from training her team. She starts the race and is hit with a bout of pancreatitis. Porsild spent much of her mandatory 24 hour layover in the community health center and it looked like her race would be over. Thankfully she got the go ahead from the medical staff at the center and the race officials to continue. She told her team back home she would take the race one checkpoint at a time. Fans could tell Mille was feeling a tad better when she started making her way back toward the front. Mushers. They're made of some really tough stuff.
An hour later Amanda Otto placed eighth at 9:24am. Otto continues to prove herself a worthy competitor as a musher. Otto found quite the challenge on the final part of her race. Otto left White Mountain with Jessie Royer and Pete Kaiser. As she hit the area known as "The Blowhole" she was met with hurricane like winds. The Husky Homestead musher experienced similar conditions to that of what her mentor Jeff King experienced 10 years ago. Like King she balled her team up and tried to wait out the storm. Thankfully Kaiser came upon her and helped her get her team moving again.
Peter Kaiser came in behind in 9th place at 9:30am, sharing the chute with Otto. Kaiser told of the harrowing morning he had coming across Otto and then finding Jessie Royer off the trail and having to wave his headlight her way so she could find her way back. The 2019 Iditarod Champion said it was the scariest moment on the Iditarod he's ever had. He approximated the wind to be going at least 60mph. Pete was greeted by his family and was all smiles seeing the familiar faces.
Rounding out the top ten was Jessie Royer at 9:49am. The trio staying close together all the way to the end of the race. Royer seemed thrilled if not a little relieved as she came into the finish. The Cowgirl Musher was greeted in the chute by friends and family and immediately handed a bottle of Mountain Dew which she eagerly grabbed before wrapping the giver in a giant hug. This was her 21st Iditarod.
Then there was a huge gap before the next wave came into Nome Wednesday afternoon.
Wally Robinson was 11th at 2:22pm. Wally wasn't planning on running Iditarod, but when Josh McNeal broke his collarbone McNeal didn't want his team to not go on Iditarod. McNeal asked Robinson would take his team to Nome. Robinson had last been on the Iditarod in 2001 and was really more involved now as "Emily's Dad". Yeah, that Emily. The only who is tied for most Jr. Iditarod wins. Robinson is most definitely in the running for most improved musher as his placement in 2001 was 40th.
Nicolas Petit battled for 12th place and came in at 4:32pm. It's been a rough season for Petit with many factors holding his team back from its usual wins in middistance races. It seems those struggles continued for Petit for much of the race, but like always he managed to pick up the pace from Safety to Nome and currently holds the fastest time from Safety to Nome (which is awarded to the speediest team on that final section in the top 20). Petit seems to be the new king of that award.
Thirteenth place went to the musher with the same bib number, Matthew Failor at 5:35pm. Failor was greeted by many family and friends in the chute. When asked what it was like not to have his wife Liz on the trail this year (she has worked with Insider the last few races) he said he got things done a lot faster in checkpoints because she wasn't constantly asking him to talk to the camera. Failor was carrying the ashes of a dog named Angel who ran Iditarod in both Martin Buser's team as well as Matt's first couple of Iditarods. When Angel retired Matthew's parents adopted the dog, they asked him to take Angel out on the trail one last time. Failor said they stopped and spread Angel in "all the cool spots."
The 2023 Iditarod Champion Ryan Redington came in 14th at 8:48pm. Redington had a hard time getting his team to come together and by the coast it was clear his dogs just weren't feeling it. The champion musher decided to regroup and just make it to Nome and not push them to do more. It was a good thing it happened as Ryan was tasked with finishing a mission first given to Aaron Burmeister. Burmeister was carrying the ashes of one of the Iditarod legends Howard Farley - a Nome resident who helped get the race off the ground - and when Aaron scratched in Unalakleet he asked Ryan to get Howard home. Aaron met Ryan in the chute and together they brought Howard home to Nome.
And at 9:43pm Wednesday the Rookie of the Year Josi Thyr made her way into the finish with tears in her eyes. Completing the Iditarod was a lifelong dream for Thyr who started her mushing career as a kid in Oregon. She was mentored by some of the greats of Iditarod like Jessie Royer and Aaron Burmeister who were both in the chute to welcome her to the finishers club.
There are more teams coming in later tonight and into tomorrow morning. The back of the pack still have a ways to go as they are in Koyuk (with a lone musher still trying to make his way to Unalakleet tonight, here's hoping Bryce Mumford gets his pizza). The race is far from over and each finisher will have stories to share and tell. It's hard to believe we've come to this part of the race where just a few teams are left to come home, but here we are. The lantern will be extinguished before we know it and our focus will start to shift to sign ups in June (though most mushers will be thinking of tourist season).
Oh, to be in Nome tonight.
