Veteran Keaton Loebrich was ecstatic to reach the finish line of Iditarod 2026 and become a two time finisher. He previously completed the Idita-river Iditarod of 2025. Keaton is in his fourth year of mushing and is pleased with his breading and training program. He felt that even though they finished in the back of the pack, they learned a lot by racing this year and he believes they ran a better race overall. Keaton finished in 27th place with 8 dogs in harness. He completed the run in 12 days, 5 hours and 21 minutes. As one of the WMIX mushers, he spent 35 hours and 58 minutes resting on the beach of the Fish River. Keaton prefers to camp outside of checkpoints. This year that was especially beneficial because of the cold. It’s harder to leave a nice warm checkpoint than it is to depart from a campsite when your rest period is up. However, Keaton’s sled broke coming into Ruby so he stopped there to repair his sled then mostly stayed in checkpoints for the remainder of his run.
Veteran Jason Mackey earned 28th place, arriving at the arch in 12 days 5 hours and 45 minutes with 9 dogs in harness. As one of the WMIX, Jason stayed in WM 34 hours and 50 minutes. His run to Safety consumed 6 hours and 15 minutes at 8.8 mph. He covered the 22 miles from Safety to Nome in 3 hours and 55 minutes. Jason says he is very fortunate having had the chance to work with some of the best mushers in the sport including family members Dick (Father) and deceased brothers Lance, Rick and Bill. He also values times he’s spent training with Paul Gebhardt, Lavon Barve and Raymie Redington. He says it’s the old school mushers that are his heroes. Jason’s Iditarod mushing career began in 2004. Over that time he’s started 11 races and with today, he’s completed ten. Jason has two top 20 finishes, 16th in 2024 and 16th in 2025. In 2024, his most recent northern route race, Jason completed the race in 10 days, 8 hours and 16 minutes.
Richie Beattie from Fairbanks is another re-rookie. Beattie attempted Iditarod back in 2019 but scratched after arriving in Nome pursuant to rule 42. Finishing in 29th place with 8 dogs in harness, Richie has now earned Iditarod veteran status. He’ll receive his finisher’s belt buckle at the Finisher’s Banquet. Richie’s overall time was 12 days, 5 hours and 49 minutes. He spent 28 hours and 19 minutes in WM. His run time to Safety was 6 hours and 3 minutes. He covered the 22 miles from Safety to Nome in 3 hours 25 minutes. Upon arriving in Nome as the final musher, Richie had some extra responsibilities. First, he extinguished the Widow’s Lamp. That tradition goes back to the days of roadhouses. Extinguishing the lamp was a sign that no other mushers were out on the trail.
Richie then received the Lynden Committed Through the Last Mile Red Lantern Award and was asked to extinguish that flame. The Red Lantern presented by Lynden goes to the final musher in recognition of their perseverance and unwavering commitment to completing the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race despite unexpected challenges. The Red Lantern is recognized as a symbol of determination in Alaska’s sled dog racing culture. Besides the honor of extinguishing the lamps, Richie receives $1,000 for Lynden.
As for so many other mushers this year, Richie’s race turned out to be something different than he had planned. His thoughts were to run a conservative race for the first two-thirds, keeping fuel in the tank to start racing on the coast. When he left Nulato with 8 dogs, his plan had to change. He took lots of rest to recharge and keep all 8 dogs in harness and make it to Nome
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