Jessie Holmes, a former star of reality television, won a dog race with the longest iditarod path on Friday, celebrating with a fist pumps and posing for photos with her two floral main teammates, Hercules and Polar.
Holmes was the first until the goal in the city of Gold Rush, on the Bering’s Sea coast. The race began on March 3 in Fairbanx after the lack of snow forced changes to the route and the starting point.
Because of this, a normal racing of 1,609 KM is a whopping 1,817 km across the wilderness of Alaska. Holmes ended in 10 days, 14 hours, 55 minutes and 41 seconds.
“It’s hard to convey words, but it’s a magical feeling,” Holmes said shortly after he crossed the target line. “It’s not about this moment. These are all those moments along the trail.”
They will take home $ 57,200 to win in the race, along with the golden nugget worth $ 4,500 and 25 kilograms of fresh salmon to finish the first in earlier stages.
Holmes, who competed for the eighth time, had previously ended up in the first 10 five times, including the third last year and 2022. In his first iditarod, in 2018, his seventh place earned the honor of the Rookie of the Year.
Matt Hall, born in Eagle, a small community on the Yukon River in East Alaska and started plaguing at the age of 2, finished second. His parents owned an expeditional company, and grew up with the stalked dogs led weekly trips for clients.
This year’s longer distance was strenuous, he said after crossing the line three hours after Holmes. “It was too long,” he said with a laugh.
Paige Drobny finished third, became the first woman on the podium since Jessie Royer was the third 2020. It was Drobny’s tenth attempt in the race.
Drobny lives in Cantwell, Alaska, with his wife and colleagues with a long distant shot of Cody Strathe, where they raise dogs in Squid Acres sled. The name comes from the thesis of her master at the squid in Berin’s sea.
Holmes, who was born and grew up in Alabama, left at the age of 18 and worked for three years as a carpenter in Montana. He arrived in Alaska in 2004 and found an adventure running dogs in a remote location of the Yukon River.
“It has been a whopping 10 days and I have soaked in every part of it-I get a level, the peaks, in-betweens. … I’m really proud of these dogs and I love them. And they did it. They deserve all the merit,” Holmes said.
He gave a special greeting to his two lead, Hercules, his dog with a semi-written and polar, saying, “He is the brain behind the surgery.”
Holmes now live in a nenched, where he works as a carpenter and a living style. From 2015 to 2023 he was an acting member of “Life below Zero”, a national geographical program documenting the fighting of Aljaski who live in remote parts of the state.
In addition to the lack of snow north of Alaska range, who forced the change of starting point in Fairbanks, the organizers of the race also had to change the festive beginning in Anchorage.
With snow trucks covering the streets in the largest state city, the usual parade was shortened from about 18 km to less than 3.2 km, and the number of dogs was reduced.
This for the fourth time in this century, the race was forced to north of the anchorage area due to lack of snow.
Only 33 Mushera started in Fairbanx, related to 2023 for the smallest terrain ever. The fall of the participants caused concern about the sustainability of race, which had to fight inflation, climate change and pressure of animal rights groups.
One dog died in this year’s Iditarod: a pregnant female on the team of Musher Daniel Klein, who was scratched under the racing rules for death.
Nearly a third of Mushera ceased early, including eight Ogrebota and two that were withdrawn because they were not competitive.
This year’s Iditarod Run paid tribute to another famous Mushing event, a 1925 serum run, in which teams for dog dogs rescued a nam from a deadly diphtheria outbreak.
