Michelle Phillips was the 24th finisher to make the burled arch on Front Street. Phillips posted a time of 10 days, 2 hours and 22 minutes. Giving her an average speed of 4.07 miles per hour. Like Hendricks, this 2013 marks the fourth time Michelle has run Front Street to the burled arch. This run was her second best. Michelle has run the Yukon Quest six times with her best finish being 4th place. The Quest runs either from Whitehorse, YT to Fairbanks or Fairbanks to Whitehorse on an every other year basis. Phillips and her husband own Tagish Lake Kennel, a year round sled dog adventure business located in Whitehorse, YT.

The 25th musher into Nome, Jessica Hendricks, brought seven happy huskies to the burled arch at 19:57:49. When asked how her race was Jessica replied very tough. She attributed that to almost every kind of trail and weather condition possible. Jessica praised her leader Ferno. Ferno, an Iditarod veteran ran many miles of the race in single lead. The six dogs behind Ferno are all Iditarod rookies. Today’s 25th place finish marks Jessica’s 4th run to the burled arch in Nome. Jessica finished the 41st Iditarod with a time of 10 days, 4 hours and 57 minutes making this run her second best run to Nome. In 2003, Hendricks earned Rookie of the Year Honors finishing in 19th place.

My trip here from Unalakleet was via Cessna 180 in severe clear. Severe clear is the term used to describe a sky that is completely cloudless and intensely blue. Our mission was to pick up dropped dogs from Elim and transport them and me to Nome. At one point during the incredibly beautiful flight, I asked Bill, the pilot, how far we could actually see. To me it seemed that from our altitude of 2,800 feet we could see over the top of the world. Bill thought it was about 30 or 40 miles. Flying with sled dogs is quite remarkable. Somehow they figure out that they best be on their best behavior while in the confines of the bush plane and so they are. We had three dogs on board today. One sat statue like for about half the flight then snuggled in with the other two who were curled up sleeping behind the front seats. Not a woof, not a bark, not a whimper out of our three passengers!