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!

Holmes, Drobny off the Yukon

Paige Drobny at the Ceremonial Start of Iditarod 54.
March 7, 2026. Anchorage, Alaska

It's a race to the coast for the two teams that have led the majority of the 54th running of the Iditarod. At 4:23pm AKDST Jessie Holmes made his way off of the Yukon River and into the checkpoint of Kaltag. The reigning Iditarod Champion stayed long enough to collect his prize from the sponsors - Bristol Bay Salmon as part of the "Fish First Award" for the first team in Kaltag - and then he headed across the way to Unalakleet.

Paige Drobny made it to Kaltag at 7:31pm AKDST and she too quickly left the checkpoint. Holmes elected to take a rest on the run to Kaltag, Drobny ran straight through. Both runs (when you factor out Holmes rest time) ran the run at about the same speed from Nulato to Kaltag. Drobny will have to stop soon to rest her team, and it's most likely she's headed for Tripod Cabin. Holmes is showing slower speeds on this run out of Kaltag, but he'll most likely run until he reaches Old Woman Cabin.

With what appears to be three hours between the two it feels like this race is solidly Jessie's - as long as he doesn't make a mistake or a giant storm blows him out to sea. However, Iditarod fans can remember a handful of times when a musher with a significant cushion had their race go sideways on the coast, so as long as Paige plays it smart, makes her move at the right time, and she keeps chipping away at Holmes' lead we could have ourselves a dog race by White Mountain.

The chase pack of Riley Dyche, Travis Beals, and Mille Porsild are on their way to Kaltag with Mille looking to come into the checkpoint in the next hour. Behind them are the rest of the top ten continually leap frogging over one another. Ryan Redington reported at the beginning of the race that he was dealing with a severe Gastrointestinal illness, but by the 24 hour layover he was over the worst of it. Fans earlier Saturday were concerned when Jessie Royer stayed well beyond her mandatory 8 in Galenda, spending nearly fifteen hours in the checkpoint. It's been said Royer is now feeling poorly and needed the extra rest for herself.

The Rookie of the Year race is heating up between Kevin Hansen and Sam Martin. The two have traded spots for the highest ranked first year rookie all race long, with Martin currently running between Galena and Nulato as Hansen sits in Galena. Neither musher has taken their mandatory 8 on the Yukon, but it looks like that may be what Hansen is doing now. Expect them to leap frog each other again before they make it to Kaltag. Jesse Terry is also in the hunt for ROTY and is within reach should the other two falter in the final leg.

The back of the pack is still going strong, with everyone into the checkpoint of Ruby as of 4:51pm AKDST. Will they continue to all stick together, or will we see some of them break away on the Yukon? Time will tell. Jody Potts-Joseph is the current red lantern in the race.

Holmes is showing as resting on the trail now and Drobny is 19 miles behind him, still running. Is Paige making her move here on the run to Unalakleet or will she shut it down for a rest here in the next few minutes? Time will tell.

Do you think Jessie Holmes has this in the bag? Will Paige be able to catch him? Will neither one be the 2026 champ? Comment with your thoughts below!

Mushing Alaska

I have the privelege of talking Iditarod with Brendan Underwood and the 1985 Iditarod Champion Libby Riddles today at 2pm AKDST. This is a LIVE broadcast where we will be talking about the race and answering viewer/listener questions. Feel free to jump on during the LIVE to ask away!

(6 year old me is FANGIRLING SO HARD to be meeting/talking with Libby Riddles. My mind is blown.)

Comment below if you are planning to watch LIVE or if you listened what you thought!

The Iditarod is on the Yukon

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

For a race that started off a little on the slow side, it's picking up speed as we enter the second leg of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race. Teams are now into Ruby with the top two teams currently running toward Galena on the mighty Yukon.

Jessie Holmes was first to the Yukon and the checkpoint of Ruby at 4:55am AKDST Friday, winning the First to the Yukon award of a five course meal that he shared with Ruby elder Billy Honea as well as offered part of the meal with Paige Drobny who came into the checkpoint a little over two hours behind Holmes.

Drobny and Holmes have been playing leapfrog since coming off of their 24 hour rest, but Drobny has reported she's having a bit of trouble that has cost her time. "Everything is breaking," the musher told Insider early Friday morning in Ruby. Her alarm clock, she said, isn't working and her phone has died because both of her chargers have snapped due to the extreme temps the teams have faced for nearly a week now. Paige said she had no way to tell time until Ryan Redington who was camped near her on the run into Ruby offered her a watch. She rested thirty minutes longer on the trail than she had planned and is now trying to figure out how to catch up to the current race leader.

Both Holmes and Drobny had not originally planned to take their mandatory 8 hour rest on the Yukon in Ruby, but Holmes carried a 70lbs dog all the way from Cripple and decided the dogs needed the longer rest. Drobny decided to take her 8, she said, because she needed to get back on track to running at night and not during the heat of the day. Holmes left at 12:55pm AKDST Friday, Drobny gave chase at 3:01pm.

As the chase pack continue to make their way to Ruby, the back of the pack are closing in on Cripple. The big talk of this year's race is how big the teams are this far into the race. The colder temps have kept the trail quite nicely for the teams and things are going well for most everyone.

The pace should speed up as teams hit the Yukon. Think of it like a mushing freeway as they run on a solid flat stretch for the next day or so before making the portage from Kaltag to Unalakleet where the race will really shake out and we'll have a really good idea of which teams have the gas left in the tank to make the push for the win.

Shhh, Iditarod is napping.

It's been a quiet day on the Iditarod trail this sunny but cold Wednesday as teams are mostly resting in checkpoints taking their first Mandatory break of the Last Great Race. Teams have been jockeying for position as they "race to their 24" since Sunday and now it's time for them to settle in and get it done.

Teams made their way into the popular rest stop checkpoints of McGrath, Takotna and Ophir Tuesday night and all day Wednesday with the back of the pack hitting McGrath Wednesday night leaving Richie Beattie in Nikolai as the final musher. Beattie, according to his kennel page on Facebook, is taking his mandatory 24+differential hour layover.

Jessie Holmes ran through to Takotna, coming in around 10:30pm Tuesday night. The Champion musher bedded his team and declared his 24 citing his not feeling well and hoping a good break would be just what he needed to be able to clear up whatever he is fighting to compete in the second half. 

Riley Dyche and Matt Hall elected to continue on past Takotna and they (along with Lauro Eklund and a couple other teams) are 24ing in Ophir.

Back with Holmes are Paige Drobny, Peter Kaiser, Jessie Royer, Ryan Redington and Travis Beals (to name a few). Holmes will be the first to come off his 24 and can leave Takotna on his way to Ophir at 11:30pm AKDST. He'll have just over an hour before Paige will be hot on his heels. 

If this blogger's math is to be believed (and let's face it, it probably isn't) then Riley Dyche can be first to leave Ophir at 5:54am Thursday. Jessie will most likely be well ahead of Dyche by the time the team starts up again, but will have several hours of running on them with Dyche having fresh legs. While Holmes has control of the race - for now - he is by no means running away with the competition just yet.

It's quiet right now. All trackers are showing teams at rest. The insider live feeds have lots of happy sleeping dogs, a few locals wandering about, but everything is quiet and at peace. Fans should take the opportunity to shower, clean house, catch up on insider interviews, or just go to sleep. We have several hours before things get moving again.

Drobny, Redington chase Holmes out of McGrath

Paige Drobny and team at the Ceremonial Start of
Iditarod 54. March 7, 2026. Anchorage, Alaska.

Jessie Holmes has about an hour and a half lead over the next two teams out of the checkpoint of McGrath Tuesday night. The reigning Champion has commanded much of the first leg of the 54th running of Iditarod, steadily gaining time on the competition. 

Holmes was first to McGrath at 8:03pm AKDST. The champion spent just moments in the checkpoint gathering supplies from his drop bag and accepting the First to McGrath award before continuing on. Holmes was seen carrying a large bale of straw on the back of his sled as he took off.

At a little after 9:30pm AKDST Paige Drobny and her team of Squids entered McGrath. The musher wasted no time allowing vets to do a quick once over of her team before leaving - without grabbing anything from her drop bags. Iditarod Insider commentator Jodi Bailey said it was no big surprise to see Paige not grab supplies as Drobny and her team are experienced back country living and carry large loads all year long. Ryan Redington was just minutes behind Drobny and spent a quick few minutes to gather items from his drop bags before taking off in chase.

As of 9:45pm AKDST Mille has checked into McGrath and is surrounded by fans and volunteers. It remains to be seen what she plans to do here in McGrath. It's about to get busy as the front runners continue to jockey for placement heading into their 24 hour mandatory rests. 

It's anyone's guess what Jessie Holmes has planned as it appears with the straw bale he will camp on the trail which may mean he is planning a push to Cripple. A ballsy move, but one that could pay off if his team is ready for it.

He'll have several other checkpoints to stop in between McGrath and Cripple should he so choose.

Hang onto your hats, Iditafans! The race is getting ready to go into nap mode (so we'll all be able to catch up on work while the mushers try to catch up on sleep). 

Foucher scratches in Rainy Pass

In a press release early Tuesday morning, Iditarod announced that 2026 rookie Jaye Foucher made the difficult decision to scratch from the race. 

Foucher reported Monday via her team back home that she had encountered some difficult trail and had managed to break her sled on the first portion of the race (Sunday into Monday) and that she was unsure of how she could continue. After some work in the checkpoint she managed to continue on down the trail but according to her kennel page things did not get easier and a series of more crashes on the trail led to an even more broken sled and some lost mandatory gear. Report of the team is that all dogs are doing well.

A scratch by any musher is a difficult decision - and sometimes they cannot bring themselves to officially do so and ask for an official to withdraw then instead - and it is always made with the best interest of the team. Officials and other mushers often come alongside the musher and encourage them to sleep on it before pulling the plug on their race. In the case of losing mandatory gear, however, if you haven't sent out replacements in your drop bags it isn't always feasible to replace that gear in the checkpoint (with race judge approval). 

"We appreciate the determination and sportsmanship Foucher has shown during this year’s race," Iditarod wrote in its release, "and hope to see her return to the Iditarod Trail in the future."

Jaye Foucher had fifteen dogs in harness and in good health at the time of her decision.

To send encouragement to the musher please be sure to visit her website, Facebook, and Instagram.