Jason Mackey, who led all teams out of Fairbanks is the first team to arrive in Manley Hot Springs. Mackey went through Nenana and camped outside for 4 hours. So with the rest, the run from Nenana to Manley took Jason just under 14 hours. That holds pretty true with run time from 2015 and 2017. Ryan Redington and Paige Drobny are close behind Mackey.
As the sun peaks over the hills in Manley the race is spread out between Manley at mile 137 and Quince Mountain who’s back with Calvin Daugherty resting at mile 80. Justin Olnes and Sydnie Bahl are resting around mile 90.
2023 Champion, Ryan Redington indicated before the race that he’d stay near the front of the pack in 4th, 5thor 6th throughout the race until making his move to the front. The temperature dropped over night to single digits, nine degrees to be exact, so having gone through a freeze/thaw the trail is hard right now – good running.
Redington ran his first Iditarod in 2001. He’s had 17 starts and completed ten. He’s had four top ten finishes. Ryan is known for his willingness to mentor young mushers. Ryan has been a mentor to Iditarod Rookie Daniel Klein who lives near Redington’s Wisconsin kennel. Ryan is selecting items from his drop bags with the apparent intent of going further in these favorable temperatures then resting out on the trail before heading to Tanana.
We’d expect to see Paige Drobny arrive next. At the moment, she’s cruising at 10.2 miles an hour and is 4 miles shy of Manley. Drobny lives in Cantwell. She’s a perfect nine for nine in race starts/finishes with her first Iditarod being in 2013. She and husband, Cody Strathe are both veterans of the Iditarod and the Yukon Quest. Paige has found her way into the top ten of Iditarod 3 times with her best in 2024 at 5th place. Paige and Cody operate Squid Acres Kennel and Tour Company. Paige has followed Ryan out of Manley to camp on the trail.
The village of Manley Hot Springs is located 160 road miles west of Fairbanks on the Elliot Highway which is maintained year round. Manly is famous for the hot springs that bubble from the ground supporting both tourism and vegetable farming. Residents engage in subsistence activities. Summer temps reach into the 50’s and winter lows drop to well below zero. Average snow fall is 59 inches.
The community has been home to mushing legends Charlie Boulding as well as the late Joey Redington and the late Susan Butcher and countless others who find the area to be blessed with snow, favorable temperatures, good trails and the beauty Alaska is known for.
Mining brought prospectors to the area in the early 1900s. Manley served as a supply depot for the miners. New construction included a U.S. Army Telegraph station, a trading post and a Roadhouse.
Frank Manley came to the area in 1907 and built a 4-story resort that included 45 guest rooms, steam heat, electric lights, hot baths, bar, restaurant, billiard room, bowling alley and an Olympic size indoor swimming pool that used heated water from the hot springs. The thriving resort burned in 1913. (Tananachiefs.org)
The Manley Roadhouse was rebuilt and serves guests today with soaking baths, comfortable rooms, excellent dinning and activities including boating, hiking and fishing.
Back in 1925 in the Serum Run to save Nome, Edgar Kallands carried the anti-toxin from Tolovana to Manley Hot Springs, a distance of 31 miles. The twenty-something musher endured the same brutal cold that Shannon had during the first leg of the relay – minus fifty-six degrees.
After leaving Nenena, the teams will run 87 miles to Manley located at mile 137. To the dog’s liking, most of the trail is in the low hills along the river sometimes cutting across oxbows in a more direct route than the river takes. Average run time in 2015 and 2017 was about 13 hours which included some rest along the trail. When teams begin filing into Manley it will be rather hectic for twenty-four hours before all depart and quiet returns. On the normal Southern Route, Manley would land between Finger Lake and Rainy Pass.
