The first musher to reach Nome on the 13th of March was Rick Casillo. On his fifth trip to Nome, he claimed 26th place. Casillo grew up in New York then came to Alaska as a fly fishing guide. Watching the Iditarod sparked his interest in sled dogs. Casillo and his wife Jennifer operate Battle Dawgs Racing and are committed to helping this nation’s battle wounded and battle weary through Alaska Healing Hearts. During the summer they fly veterans to the glacier dog camp and take them mushing. During the winter warriors are playing a key part in helping us train and prepare for the Iditarod. Jennifer has done tours of duty in both Iraq and Afghanistan. 2014 finds Casillo with his highest place and best Iditarod finish time.

With a short break of just thirty minutes, race officials were back out at the burled arch. Allen Moore arrived at 0837 in 27th place.  The husband wife team of Moore and Zirkle operate SP Kennel. It’s a well-known fact that Allen takes the SP Kennel “A” team on the Quest trail while Aliy takes the “A” team on the Iditarod Trail. Iditarod allows sixteen dogs while the Quest allows only fourteen. This gives Aliy a couple of “musher choice” dogs for Iditarod. Can you imagine Moore being either in Shaktoolik or on the trail to Koyuk when all the drama was taking place near Safety and on the trail to Nome. He probably left Safety knowing Aliy was in Safety and wondering why she was staying put rather than moving right on through. He might even have known that Aliy had passed Jeff King on the trail. He might have reasoned as to why Aliy was staying put or he might not have. He also might have watched the tracker just long enough to know that Dallas was gaining on the leader, whom ever that might be. I’m sure now that the SP Kennel team of Zirkle and Moore are united I Nome, there are plenty of experiences that are being shared and stories told. SP Kennel stands for Skunk’s Place. Skunk was one of Aliy’s first and most trusted dogs.

An hour after Moore, Paul Gebhardt came to the finish line with six dogs in harness. While the team was small (six is the minimum required to finish) they were certainly spirited. They evidently were veterans just like Paul as they seemed to sense they were in Nome and knew where the finish line was. After the equipment check, signing in and interviews Gebhardt’s team trotted enthusiastically to the dog lot where they’d await transportation home. Dog lot is really and understatement. It’s more like a dog spa where the canine athletes are lavished with attention by volunteers and team handlers. Gebhardt has run 17 out of the last eighteen years. He’s been in the top-ten seven times holding two second place finishes as well as a third place. 

Mats Pettersson from Sweden has earned the coveted finisher’s belt buckle placing 29th. He runs a tour business situated very close to the famous ice Hotel in Sweden. He’s run many of the long distance races in Norway and Sweden multiple times. Mats has developed his team with two dogs he purchased from Jeff King, Shasta and Rhumba. He says he’s living his dream by participating in the Iditarod and someday he hopes to do the Yukon Quest. His average speed during Iditarod is listed as 3.73 miles per hour. His elapsed time is 10 days, 18 hours and 32 minutes.

Kristy Berington has been on the Iditarod trail five years running. When she’s run with her twin sister, Anna, they’ve come to the finish line together but not so this morning. Kristy arrived in 30th place. Anna has yet to arrive but is expected around 0630 in the morning. Seems that back at McGrath, Anna wanted to run with Charlie Benja who was leaving a little later while Kristy wanted to depart the checkpoint. With some discussion they decided it wasn’t fair of one to ask the other to hurry up and get ready nor would it be fair to ask the other to wait. They worked out a compromise. By an hour, Kristy has beaten her previous best Iditarod time. Berington grew up in Northern Wisconsin. The first sled she built for her pet dogs to pull consisted of a pair of old skies and a milk crate. It worked well enough for Kristy to get the mushing bug.

Instead of introducing tall Dan Kaduce, the announcer began reading the bio of petite Katherine Keith, introduced Katherine’s daughter and interviewed her while a team was approaching from six blocks away. With two blocks to go, the announcer realized the tall person on the upcoming sled wearing bib number 5 wasn’t Katherine but instead, Dan Kaduce. Quickly tactics were changed to welcome Dan Kaduce and his team lead by Orchid. Kaduce who was born and raised in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin came to Alaska for fun. He’s an accomplished skier and therefore tried his skill at skijoring. It was a natural transition to a sled and a team of dogs. Kaduce was the 2010 Iditarod Rookie of the year. Dan has competed in the Yukon quest more than a handful of times, a race that’s designed to test survival skills as well as speed. With his Quest experience, Dan was well prepared for the 2014 Iditarod. As his team was fed salmon tails in the dog lot, Dan shared with his kennel partner and wife, Jodi Bailey, how difficult this race was. He called it the most difficult race he’s ever done.  Coming in from Safety, Dan become aware of a musher close behind, he put the foot to the snow/ice and pedaled along with the dogs for the final leg of the race.

Two minutes and twelve seconds later, it was Katherine Keith who made the finish line. Katherine, a Minnesota native came to Alaska to attend University of Alaska – Fairbanks where she obtained a degree in renewable energy. Next on her list of dreams was flying a bush plane, eating caribou, running dogs and having a camp in the Brooks Range. Mark them all accomplished. Katherine and John Baker have a kennel of 50 digs in Kotzebue. Their focus is to have the best sled dog kennel in the world. Katherine is an Ironman Triathlete, working to qualify for the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii. When Katherine’s 10-year-old daughter was interviewed at the chute, she said she was very proud of her mother and all of the incredible things she has accomplished. Keith averaged 3.70 miles per hour, finishing 32nd with a time of 10 days, 20 hours and 43 minutes.