Iditarod 2025: A Long Road Holmes

By Colin A. Warren

Jessie Holmes and his sled dogs championed the longest course in Iditarod’s 53 years on Friday March 14 at 2:55 a.m. when they pulled under the Burled Arch. Holmes was led into Nome by dogs Hercules and Polar. Of the 33 teams that began the 1,128 mile race in Fairbanks on March 3, only 22 teams finished, with the final one, Ebbe Pedersen, arriving in Nome on March 17 at 1:40 a.m. This year’s competitors faced particularly grueling conditions and distance in a race known for both.

Police lights twirled, throngs of people lined the streets hollering, bells rang out, but nothing shined as much as Holmes himself as his dog team pulled up on Front Street in Nome, Alaska in the wee hours of Friday morning.

Hailing from Alabama, yet having called Alaska home for the last 21 years, this was 43-year-old Holmes’ 8th Iditarod finish. Holmes has raced every year since 2018. Holmes won in 10 days, 14 hours, 55 minutes and 41 seconds.

In the finish chute, media and VIPs and Iditarod staff swarming around him, Holmes leapt onto the metal box on the back of his sled in subzero temperatures, tossed his arms up and let out a victory howl.

“If I died tomorrow, I’d just die the happiest man,” said Holmes with tears coming into his eyes in the finish chute.

Holmes jumped into the crowd and bounced around high fiving and hugging fans, as locals let out seal calls. The Iditarod officials put him on a podium with his lead dogs whom they garnered with yellow roses. Holmes was presented with a giant check for $57,200, which he later said he’d spend on dog food.

During his finisher’s interview at the Mini Convention Center, Rob Urbach, Iditarod’s CEO, mentioned Holmes’ especially strong bond with his dogs.

Photo by Colin A. Warren
*Fans line up to get autographs in the Mini-Convention center in Nome post-race .*

“I’m really proud of these dogs. I love them,” Holmes said. “And they did it. They deserve all the credit.”

This year’s race was an exceptional showing for teams hailing from Interior Alaska, as both Matt Hall and Paige Drobny consistently contended with Holmes for the win.

Hall finished 2nd in 10 days, 17 hours, 59 minutes and 46 seconds, about 3 hours after Holmes. Drobny finished 3rd in 10 days, 20 hours, 38 minutes and 43 seconds. She joins five other women that have finished top-3.

All three mushers live near one another in the Interior. Holmes and Drobny are neighbors, and Holmes and Hall have a long history together – they met running a trapline in 2009.

At one point when Holmes and Hall were parallel during the race Holmes yelled over to Hall, “Man, 16 years ago in Eagle. Can you believe this?”

Holmes couldn’t quite believe how far the competitive friends had come.

While of course Holmes meant this broadly, there was lots of chatter by the mushers, in the crowd, and online about the long race course this year. The route was chosen at the last minute because it was determined that there was too little snow to go forth with the typical route.

“I sure don’t know if I’d want to do it again,” Holmes said in his post-race interview.

Photo by Colin A. Warren
*Riley Dyche gives his dogs steaks at the finish line for a job well done*

And it wasn’t just the longer-than-normal distance that was hard on the teams. They were met with extremely warm temperatures for the first stretch of the race that was too hot for the dogs that had them punching through the snow often.

“It produced a lot of diarrhea,”explained veterinary technician Mallory Cade, who worked at the Manley Hot Springs checkpoint.

On the Tanana River, teams encountered a sand storm that Holmes admitted almost had him drop out of the race; the moment was coupled with his top lead dog, Polar, having a hurt paw. But Holmes instead persevered and carried Polar on his sled for hundreds of miles, letting him recover. He said by the time he let Polar lead again he “dominated the team the rest of the way.”

Other teams also struggled.

Photo by Colin A. Warren
*Aurora rips over Norton Sound at 2:12 a.m. on March 13 near Shaktoolik.*

“The part from Kaltag down to Eagle Island was really, really tough. Hard on the musher and the dogs, I think. Knowing we had to go back through it again was pretty daunting,” Dronby shared.

The two UAF students in the race, Jenny Roddewig and Justin Olnes, scratched, although both teams covered many hundreds of miles.

Eagle Island was where UAF Ph.D. grad student Justin Olnes was scratched from the race stating that his team needed more rest to remain competitive. Honorably, his team was made up of all rescue dogs. That same day Olnes pulled out, two other mushers were controversially withdrawn from the race, not far back from Olnes on the trail, for a rule that demands racers stay "competitive.” It was contentious because Iditarod finishers from years past went the same pace that the withdrawn teams were going this year.

At the Shaktoolik checkpoint towards the end of the race, along Norton Sound, three-time Iditarod champion Mitch Seavey shared his dog’s astonishment.

“The dogs are feeling the distance. The young dogs are like, ‘This can’t be real,’” Seavey said.

Jenny Roddewig, UAF veterinary medical student, was poised to win the Red Lantern – an honor bestowed upon the last finisher – when she also scratched at White Mountain checkpoint, just about 80 miles from Nome. Her team had gone over 1,000 miles at a solid average pace; traditionally the route is just under 1,000 miles.

Photo by Colin A. Warren
*Shaktoolik checkpoint checker Gary Bekoalok greets musher Michelle Phillips*

The 22 finishers this year was the least number of teams to finish since the race's inception in 1973. The most ever was 78 teams in 2008.

When confronted post-race about any regrets regarding the route, Urbach defended the choice.

“No, I think it’s great to have new challenges and give opportunities for the mushers to excel in a slightly different course,” said Urbach. “The Iditarod and challenges are synonymous and this year the universe decided to make it even more hard on them, right? So we had to move it to Fairbanks, added some length to it, and it became pretty epic.”

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