Iditarod: Jessie Holmes to Repeat as Champion

 

Jessie Holmes and Travis Beals have both arrived at White Mountain (mile 898) and are almost assured to finish first and second in this year's Iditarod. Holmes has a four-hour lead on Beals, and with only 77 miles left to the finish line, it would take nothing short of a miracle (or a disaster, depending on your POV) for Beals to catch up with him. 

Holmes will repeat as Iditarod champion. All teams are required to take an 8-hour rest at White Mountain, and we can be assured that Holmes will leave as soon as he's allowed in order to maintain his lead.

Of the next three racers, Paige Drobney was the first to Elim (mile 852), the checkpoint before White Mountain. Jeff Deeter pulled in a half-hour after her. Both took roughly 3½-hour breaks there, and while they were resting, Wade Marrs blew through the checkpoint without a rest, and is now in third place. Drobney and Deeter both left Elim about an hour after Marrs passed through and are dueling it out for fourth place.

Paige has been taking longish breaks at every checkpoint the past day or two and is down to 10 dogs, signs that her team is tired and need frequent rests and TLC. It' a testament to the humanitarian treatment of the dogs in the race that she's basically forfeited at least a second-place finish to care for her team rather than force them on past the point of endurance to try and catch up to Holmes.

Porsild and Dyche are still in Elim. Hall, Phillips, Eklund, and Kaiser are enroute to the checkpoint, and three other teams are back in Koyuk (mile 804). Six teams have left Shaktoolik (mile 754) and are presumably on the open, exposed stretch of trail crossing the frozen Norton Sound. The rest of the field are stretched between Shaktoolik and Kaltag (mile 629), and no team is still back on the Yukon. 

Billionaire "expedition class" racer Kjell Rokke has completed the trail, crossing the finish line mid-day yesterday at 7 days, 22 hours, and 40 minutes. I have mixed feelings about the new "expedition class" contestants, but regardless of assistance, etc., nearly eight days in the Alaskan wilderness in mid-March while covering nearly 1,000 miles is still an achievement. Congratulations are due Rokke (as long as he doesn't swagger around saying that he "won" this year's Iditarod). Also, let's appreciate his generous donations to the race committee and to the indigenous settlements along the route.

Thank you, sir.