Ten teams still on the trail

All eyes have turned to "the back of the pack" today as the final ten teams continue to make their way to the finish line. Like most years the back is filled with Iditarod rookies, though the team closest to Nome at the moment is Iditarod Veteran Anna Berington. The teams stretch from just before Safety to just outside of Elim. If all goes well all teams will be in by Friday evening.

Fans have been puzzled at the slow movement of Bryce Mumford who finally made it to Unalakleet Wednesday night. The tracker shows him resting at the airport in the Coastal town. Current standings have not updated to showing him as checked in. So just what is going on? ITC has been silent.

Experience suggests Mumford's race has come to an end, either by scratch or withdrawal for lack of competitiveness. It seems harsh, but logistically he is at least two days behind the rest of the teams at the rate he's gone the last several days. They cannot keep volunteers who have jobs and lives to get back to in checkpoints indefinitely. It also becomes a danger to the team to be alone out on the trail. Yes, trail sweeps will follow along, but again it's a volunteer crew.

The ITC typically updates faster than it has here, and so one can only wonder if the PR team finally got some sleep after a long race and the announcement is just delayed. Here's hoping someone speaks soon.

Top Ten and then some are in!

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.

Now is no time to stop!

"The winner came in, why are you still posting about Iditarod?"

While the Iditarod is first and foremost a race to see who can finish first, it's a feat many of us will never even attempt much less achieve. And, just like after the Superbowl we immediately start talking about Free Agency and the Draft, Iditarod does not end just because there is a winner.

There are currently seven teams sitting in Nome, finished with the task, and there are three more charging down the home stretch to make up the top ten. No, seriously, Otto and Kaiser are pretty neck and neck on the GPS tracker and Jessie Royer ain't too far behind! 

behind them are 22 teams making their way. Each one has their own reason for running the Iditarod. They all have their stories of overcoming obstacles just to get to the starting line. All of them have a deep love and bond with the dogs in front of their sled. 

All are worth following to the end. There are races within the race and there are stories of overcoming adversity. Why would we just stop at one story when there are so many behind it?

Good luck to all of the teams currently out on the trail. We're here cheering you all into Nome!

No one has won it more

Dallas Seavey and his string of ten dogs that are "all heart" rode into Nome at 5:16:08pm Tuesday. The 37 year old musher cheered and pumped his arms as he ran alongside the sled into the chute. With a crowd cheering and speakers blasting the announcer's words to the crowd the little dog team that could hardly seemed phased.

It's been a tough season for Seavey. In November during a training run with Seavey, Isaac Teaford, and handler Josiah Liebe a snow machine drove into the team driven by Liebe. Several dogs were killed while three were injured with life altering injuries. Josiah was driving a team filled with Dallas' core Iditarod team and it was suddenly gone. On top of that were the horrible sounds and visions of the carnage Dallas came upon when he got word that the team behind him had been hit. It wasn't something you just shrug and move on with.

Seavey borrowed dogs from his father, three-time Iditarod Champion Mitch Seavey, and rebuilt the team and plan for the race season. He tested them out on the Copper Basin. He tweaked the roster. He tweaked the game plan. Everything was plugging along, but he just wasn't getting the same vibe from the team as in years past. They weren't the machine (or monster as his other teams were called) he was used to.

Iditarod start weekend rolled around and his game face was on. He looked prepared but he hedged his bets in interviews. He wasn't yes we're going to win, it was yes we're going to make damn sure we do everything we can to be in the mix so that if we can get position to win we can. Then a moose ran into the team not even 12 hours later. A dog was critically injured. Dallas had some sort of mental shift and he "lost his head" and didn't do what he thought he did. He didn't communicate properly with officials. He didn't gut the moose properly. He leaves the injured dog that he thinks just has a deep cut in Finger Lake with the race vets and by Rainy Pass he's getting a call asking if he wants them to perform surgery on the dog. What?!

In McGrath he's told that race officials convened and determined he did not gut the moose sufficiently, he was assessed a two-hour penalty that would be tacked onto his mandatory 24hour rest. What was supposed to be a 25 hour rest was now going to be 27 hours. He would be two hours behind. He accepted all of this and moved forward. In Cripple on his 24 he conceded he probably wasn't going to win this year, he was hoping for fifth.

When asked at the finish line how he came back from being five hours behind the leader out of Cripple to winning by three or more hours Dallas explained he has two sides. "There's the side of just taking care of the dogs and getting to the next checkpoing, and then my analytical side where I am analizing and studying everything." He said when he did the numbers and realized he had a chance, he took it.

"I knew that to win six it was going to have to be hard. You can't win six and it be easy. It can't be not special." Dallas spoke after he came into Nome acknowledging that while his first one will always be the most special, number six just may always be the hardest. He spoke of dogs that maybe weren't the cohesive team he was used to but they were all heart. He choked up mentioning the hard season, what he and the team and his kennel have been through. What they are still going through.

Rick Swenson held the record of most wins for 30 years before Dallas matched it in 2021. Rick's last win wasn't a pretty one either. It was hard. And it was in a time when you didn't have an Insider camera watching your every move in a checkpoint or a GPS tracker attached to your sled. There's a reason why Jeff King would tweet out to Tom Brady the year Brady won his fifth - but at the time it didn't look like it as he was down by 25 points or so - "The fifth one's a Bitch!". 

It was said that the record would never be matched or broken. For 30 years that rang true. Then it was, well, you can match it, but you won't break it. And now here we are. Six wins in. Dallas has grown up a lot in the 12 years since his first. He's become even wiser, even more wise in how this all shakes down. 

What hasn't changed is the love for the race and his dogs. It was evident as he made his way to the finish line. His tradition of stopping the dogs on the beach before the hustle and bustle of town to thank each dog. To take in the sights, the sounds, the smells - the quiet before the media storm. 

It was evident as he waved to everyone lining Front Street shouting out thank you for coming! It was evident the way he cheered his 10 dogs up into the chute. The way he immediately went to each dog telling them good job and thank you. The laughter and joking he had with the checker (hi Nicolle!). The smiles, the cheers, everything about it was just so Dallas Seavey that kid all those years ago watching his dad come into Nome. Getting excited for Iditarod every year. Hero worshipping the mushers who came before him.

Now Dallas Seavey has been declared the Greatest Of All Time in the sport of Iditarod. Number six was a bitch, but if anyone could do it with as much grit and determination as it takes, it's Dallas. Dallas Seavey.

"THANK YOU! See you in Nome!"

Dallas Seavey pulled the hook at 7:53am in White Mountain and his team of 10 Alaskan Huskies trotted back out onto the Iditarod Trail, they have just 77 miles until they reach the finish line. Seavey has a three hour lead over current second place team of Matt Hall. Should Dallas maintain his lead he will achieve an historic sixth victory in the Last Great Race.

While it may seem like this is a runaway win for Dallas Seavey, the veteran musher knows not to celebrate just yet. Just ten years ago Dallas was third out of White Mountain following well behind the leader Jeff King who was nearly three hours ahead of Seavey. Aliy Zirkle was chosen to play spoiler having left White Mountain an hour behind King. As the trackers made their way through the Topkok Hills it looked like everything was going to stay as it was. No one was gaining, and King wasn't faltering...

...until he did. Halfway from the hills to the checkpoint of Safety King's tracker stalled. And stayed stalled. Reports came in of hurricane force winds in the Blowhole. Joe Runyan blogged that anyone out there was risking their life. A midnight, Jeff King hit his SOS button ending his race. He was blown off trail with no way to continue. Aliy Zirkle in the meantime was totally unaware of Jeff's misfortune and made it to the checkpoint of Safety completely rattled by the storm. She was advised to stay and wait until the winds died down. She had a two hour lead on Dallas and it seemed the right idea.

Then Dallas came into Safety and quickly signed out - he didn't want to be in the wind anymore than he had to be, and with no real barrier from the wind for the dogs it was better to keep moving in his opinion than sit there and wait it out. He was unaware Aliy was still there. Unaware that Jeff was not in Nome. 

Dallas won his second Iditarod that night in crazy dramatic fashion.

A similar storm hit in 2022, Dallas didn't win that year, but he came awfully close to it. We can sit and rehash the fairness of Brent Sass getting a message on his InReach device telling him to get moving as Dallas was still moving while Sass hunkered down to wait out the storm, but it's done and over with. Sass managed to hold Dallas off, but again Dallas proved that while one team is stuck in the final leg another can make progress. If anyone knows that the race ain't over in White Mountain, it's Seavey.

Faster finishes from White Mountain to Nome take 10 hours, sometimes they can take 11 to 12 hours. If Dallas manages to stay first and doesn't get stalled in the Topkok Hills or The Blowhole outside of Safety, look for a finish around 5:30pm AKST tonight.

Seavey 8 miles to White Mountain

Dallas Seavey pulled away from the lead pack Sunday in Unalakleet and never looked back. While not running a blistering pace, the five-time Iditarod champion will be into White Mountain close to Midnight at the rate he's traveling.

The next teams are still two hours or more behind him. 

While it's still 77 miles to Nome from White Mountain, Seavey is in very good position at this point. Still, we all remember what happened 10 years ago when Jeff King had a run away lead going into White Mountain only to get blown horribly off course in the blowhole on his way to the final checkpoint of safety. The Iditarod Legend had to hit his SOS button and end his race. Dallas Seavey unknowingly won his second Iditarod win later that morning.

It's still a dog race, and it's still anyone's game, but right now it looks to be Seavey's to lose.

Seavey continues to distance himself

Dallas Seavey is now twenty miles ahead of the chase duo of Jessie Holmes and Matt Hall. The five-time champion checked into Elim at 5:30 and spent only four minutes in the checkpoint. Seavey no doubt will stop and feed the dogs on the trail, but it's clear his plan to run straight through to White Mountain where an 8 hour mandatory rest awaits each team.

Jessie Holmes and Matt Hall are duking it out for second and both content with that idea. Holmes in Koyuk this morning told Insider he didn't expect to see Dallas again until White Mountain. Both Holmes and Hall have put up fast speeds on the leg to Elim and should be into the checkpoint soon.

Travis Beals is solidly in fourth and his kennel partner and wife Sarah Stokey reports that he is happy with where he is and that he wants to maintain the gap between his team and the chase pack. That pack is currently being led by Paige Drobny and Jeff Deeter who left Koyuk in the late afternoon. The rest of the top ten sit in Koyuk having just arrived in the last hour and a half and all have elected to stay in the checkpoint.

This afternoon another team chose to end their race early in Unalakleet. 21-time finisher Aaron Burmeister chose to scratch to preserve the mental health and wellness of his team and for the future. This brings the total number of scratches to six, two more than the total number of scratches from last year's race.

Seavey's lead grows as he blows through Koyuk

While it's still nearly two hundred miles to go, so very premature to call the race now, it looks like Dallas Seavey is on his way to making history again this year. While some may roll their eyes and grumble about him winning again, there's still a lot that can happen to stop that from happening in Iditarod 52. 

Dallas pulled into Koyuk officially at 7:11am and immediately got to work opening up drop bags and packing his batsled. Seavey informed the crew in the checkpoint he was not going to stay but keep going towards Elim. He grabbed straw and attached it to his sled. He moved quickly and decidedly, and at 7:23am he was off again heading toward the shelter cabin fifteen-ish miles up the trail where it is believed he will camp for a time before going through Elim and on to White Mountain and his final 8 hour mandatory rest. 

Dallas gained at least another half hour on Jessie Holmes in this run across the sea ice. Holmes is running barely a mile ahead of Matt Hall on the Norton Sound and should be into Koyuk by 9am. It's anyone's guess if either will stay or go. If they stay, Dallas' lead will continue to grow. If they go through we may very well have ourselves a dog race to the finishline.

The chase pack is into Shaktoolik and out on the Norton Sound. Lots of leap frogging which makes for an exciting race for the top twenty positions (especially the top ten)!

In sadder news, fan favorite Hunter Keefe has scratched in Unalakleet according to a statement released by Iditarod early Monday morning. Keefe scratched pursuant to rule 42 (expired dog). This is the second rule 42 scratch in Iditarod 52. Keefe was on his way to having another close to top ten finish in the Iditarod and had 10 dogs in harness when he scratched. 

Seavey blows in and out of Shaktoolik with commanding lead

Dallas Seavey and team at the ReStart.
Willow, AK. March 3, 2024

In a turn of events today that not many saw coming, Dallas Seavey reminded everyone how he became only the second musher in race history to win five times. Seavey, who had very little chance by most estimates to lead at all after the halfway point now has a solid lead of over an hour over the next team Sunday evening.

The five-time champion checked in at 9:13pm and spent enough time in the checkpoint to grab some gear out of his drop bags, some straw, and send a pup home. Seavey was second into the first coastal checkpoint of Unalakleet but chose to continue up the trail leaving Jessie Holmes to rest alone until the chase pack caught up Sunday morning. Seavey chose to camp on the trail for a couple of hours on the way to Shak. The strategy put at least a good hour between him and Jessie Holmes once Holmes got up and continued on.

The winds are ripping on the coast as they almost always do and some reports have the hills between Unalakleet and Shaktoolik as being especially difficult with the wind blowing right at the teams. Seavey's team are still quite peppy after running in the wind all day and they will no doubt have more as they head out onto the sea ice. It is a good bet that Dallas will camp about 11 miles out of the checkpoint at a shelter cabin popular with many mushers before continuing across the Norton Sound and into the Koyuk checkpoint. 

Unalakleet is busy tonight with many teams choosing the take a nice long break between the snow berms made for windbreaks for the teams - plus there's some really yummy pizza waiting for just about every musher thanks to fans and friends calling in pizza orders to be delivered as the teams come in. Peace on Earth Pizza watches teh tracker and makes the pizza fresh to meet the teams soon after they come in. 

Unfortunately it's not all good news tonight. Four teams have had to scratch Sunday. The first was Erin Altemus who unfortunately had a team not quite mentally prepared for the cold winds on the Yukon and for the good of her team she chose to end her race early. Isaac Teaford had to scratch after the passing of his dog Bog in the checkpoint of Nulato. While it is unclear why the dog died, all teams that have a dog death (unless clear that it was out of musher control like an animal or snowmachine attack) must scratch or be withdrawn. Connor McMahon, another rookie, also chose to scratch today in Galena out of concern for his team - but there is no word as to what it was exactly. Finally, Deke Naaktgeboren reported having issues on the river out of Nulato today as his dogs were unnerved by the popping and shifting of the river ice. After returning to Nulato where they rested a few hours, the veteran decided to end their race early.

Jessie Holmes is about four miles to Shaktoolik. It will be interesting to see what he chooses to do once he realizes Dallas didn't stay. Monday it will be all about crossing the Norton sound for the lead and middle of the pack.

Isaac Teaford's dog unexpectedly passes outside of Nulato

The Iditarod issued a statement Sunday afternoon informing of a dog death in this year's race. Bog, a two-year old male out of Dallas Seavey's kennel running in Isaac Teaford's team, collapsed coming into the checkpoint of Nulato. Iditarod vets sprang into action, performing life saving measures on the dog for twenty minutes but were unable to revive the dog.

The cause of death is unknown. The body will be transported to Anchorage for a necropsy to determine cause of death. 

Read the full press release here.