Friday, March 14, 2025
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Hi, ADN Iditarod fans,
After coming close twice before, Jessie Holmes is on the cusp of his first-ever Iditarod win. The Nenana musher was the first to reach White Mountain this morning with a solid lead, a position that sets him up to be the first across the finish line in Nome.
Holmes finished third in the Iditarod in both 2022 and 2024. |
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Jessie Holmes talks with race fans in downtown Anchorage ahead of the Iditarod's ceremonial start in 2024. (Marc Lester / ADN)
The race requires teams to stay in White Mountain for eight hours before setting off on the last 77-mile stretch before Nome. Holmes had a 24-mile lead on his closest competitor, Two Rivers musher Matt Hall, when he arrived at the checkpoint at 8:39 a.m.
Holmes has managed to keep that lead in spite of stopping for periods of rest in the Koyuk and Elim checkpoints. That's something he said had been crucial to rebuilding his team’s mental strength and speed. |
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“You could see that it was a little hard mentally on them, like the young ones, especially,” he told Iditarod Insider of the stretch from Unalakleet and Shaktoolik over the sea ice to Koyuk.
Hall was a few hours behind Holmes, with Cantwell musher Paige Drobny on track to arrive to White Mountain later this afternoon.
Speaking to Iditarod Insider during a rest in Koyuk, Drobny said she’d mushed through a mild ground storm on the sea ice heading over the bay on Wednesday. |