Anna Berington completed her 13th Iditarod in 12 days, 13 hours and 6 minutes with 11 dogs in harness. Her previous best finish came in 2019 at 17th place. She now has two top twenty finishes.
With ice crystals on her eye lashes, Anna said the run was good. It was really nice to get on a normal route once we headed north from Grayling. The conditions of the trail were always changing due to snow, wind and temperature. Anna didn’t praise just one dog for an outstanding job but named several. When asked about entertainment while running, Anna said she listened to music for about 20 minutes on the whole run. What she prefers is to watch the dogs and how beautifully they move.
Lauro Eklund completed his second Iditarod run in 12 days, 13 hours and 10 minutes with 10 dogs in harness to earn 14th place. He improved from 26th place in 2024. Lauro ran beside his team on Front Street mostly because he wanted to keep up with Anna Berington who he called a great athlete. His most memorable moment on the trail came back at Old Woman Cabin before reaching Unalakleet. He said it was a full moon and the northern lights covered the sky everywhere you looked.
Samantha LaLonde has earned Rookie of the Year Honors by finishing in 15th place with a time of 12 days, 14 hours and 20 minutes. Sam crossed the finish line with 9 dogs in harness. She made the run from Safety to Nome in 2 hours and 47 minutes.
During her arch interview, Samantha said, “Being under the arch is really a WOW thing. It’s very exciting.” As far as the most memorable portion of the trail, she cited the beauty when leaving Koyuk. About a dog that performed well, Sam praised Gibbs (named after a character on NCIS) for running in single lead. Before leaving the arch for the Nome dog lot, Sam expressed her gratitude to Dallas Seavey and everyone who made it possible for her to run the Iditarod.
Born and raised in Michigan, Sam was introduced to sled dogs while attending Northern Michigan University. She went with a friend to volunteer at the UP 200. That event coupled with her life-long love for dogs sent her down the slippery trail of falling in love with sled dogs and the sport of mushing. After graduating with a degree in Outdoor Recreation Leadership and Management, Sam found her way to Alaska to pursue outdoor adventures.
LaLonde has held a variety of jobs in the mushing world to prepare her for Iditarod. She’s been a guide at Alaska Icefield Expeditions on the Mendenhall Glacier and for Spirit of the North Dog Sledding in Big Sky, Montana. She’s worked in Two Rivers at Ryno Kennel, ATAO Kennel and for Dallas Seavey Racing in Talkeetna. She’s completed the Willow 300, Copper Basin 300 and the Yukon Quest 300 to become Iditarod qualified.
Jason Mackey completed the race early Sunday morning in 12 days, 15 hours and 23 minutes with 8 dogs in harness. Mackey has 10 starts and 9 finishes with two being in the top twenty. This morning he tied his 2024 best finish of 16th place.
Jason was 6 years old when he watched his father Dick win the Iditarod in 1979. Dick bested Rick Swenson by only one second. From that time on he knew he wanted to race Iditarod. He says about winning the Iditarod, “Maybe I will. Maybe I won’t but one thing is for certain, as long as my health allows me to be in the greatest event on earth, I’ll never stop trying.”
Mackey thought the trail was long, but it was the wide open spaces that messed with the heads of some of his key dogs. My leaders were looking around while running. They never do that. He said the race was mentally tougher than he expected it to be but it was good we had the race. Mackey’s dogs all did the 2024 run with him. Thi’s is the first time he’s had a whole returning team as usually he sells dogs but now he has a full time job and can afford to keep dogs and build a strong team. Even though Jason was the 3rd oldest musher in this race he says, “I’m far from done.”
