Jessie Holmes reaches the coast

Jessie Holmes at the Ceremonial Start of Iditarod 54.
March 7, 2026. Anchorage, Alaska.

The Western Alaskan village of Unalakleet welcomed its first competitive musher this morning at 9:27am AKDST Sunday when reigning Iditarod Champion Jessie Holmes reached the checkpoint. The musher made the trek across the Kaltag Portage Saturday Night into early Sunday morning electing to camp along the trail ahead of his competitors. Upon reaching the checkpoint of Unalakleet the musher formed his famed cuddle puddle of dogs bedding them down for a well deserved rest.

Jessie Holmes has led the majority of the race in the 54th running of Iditarod, even while battling illness himself early on in the race and electing to do his mandatory rest well before he had planned back in Takotna. The musher again elected an early mandatory 8 hour rest on the Yukon choosing the first stop in Ruby. Through it all his spirits have remained high as he focuses on his race in front of him and not the ones around him.

Behind Jessie are Paige Drobny and Travis Beals who are leapfrogging across the Portage. Currently the GPS Tracker shows Beals resting while Drobny is now up and moving and is about 18 miles away from Unalakleet. 16 miles behind Travis are Mille Porsild and Riley Dyche both of whom may join Beals for a bit of trail camping when they reach his spot. 

Currently rounding out the top ten are Wade Marrs, Michelle Phillips, Jeff Deeter, Matt Hall, and Ryan Redington (respectfully, according to current GPS Tracker placement). Lauro Eklund is the eleventh musher off the Yukon and into the Kaltag Portage. Several teams have elected to rest in Kaltag before heading across what can be a very challenging crossing to the coast. 

The trail from Kaltag to Unalakleet is often a bumpy ride with a trail full of moguls. There's also much of the time wind directly in the team's face. Iditarod is not for the faint of heart and even the most prepared teams falter on their way to the final stretch of race.

Even expedition teams are having a difficult time on the Iditarod with the first Expedition Musher reportedly cutting his run short. Steve Curtis, the last minute expedition entry, has elected to cut his expedition short and announced this morning he was coming off the trail in McGrath. Fans wondered much of Saturday if this was his fate as he spent several days in the checkpoint. One more reminder that Iditarod is anything but easy - even when you have a support team and the ability to swap out dogs and camp in style.

At the back of the pack, the teams have made their way to Galena - all but Jody Potts-Joseph who is about 10 miles back - with only Jody having taken her mandatory Yukon 8 in Ruby. It's probably a good guess that these teams are looking at taking their 8 in Galena as the sun rises and sets up the heat of the day. Sadie appears to have been in Galena almost seven hours at this point, and should be expected to leave in another hour or so. Grayson came in a little after seven this morning and if he takes his eight hours here should be ready to leave after 3pm Sunday giving Jody time to get into Galena and settled for a rest if she chooses and able to continue traveling with "the back of the pack."

It's reportedly not windy (what?!) in Unalakleet this morning, which no doubt makes the teams running into the checkpoint very thankful.

We have officially entered the race part of the race. All bets are off as the foot comes off the brake and it's pedal to the medal! Hold onto your hats and glasses, folks, cuz this here's the wildest ride in the wilderness! (Couldn't help it!)

Do you think Jessie still has this in the bag? Is he having that magic ride? Did you know only three mushers in race history have defended their first Iditarod win? Comment below with your thoughts about the race so far and who you're cheering for!