It is always nice to have a race within the race. When coming into Safety Noah Burmeister was still ahead of Scott Smith. Those 2 had been competing for Top 10 for a while. Only on the final stretch, 22 miles , to Nome, did Scott Smith pass Noah Burmeister. It’s a friendly rivalry, as they congratulated each other under the burled arch. A huge crowd came out to greet one of their own. Noah was born and raised in Nome. So far he had only driven noncompetitive puppy teams to Nome. The last time was 10 years ago;  finishing 11th in his first competitive run is impressive.

Here are the finish line pictures: