A huge congratulations to all of this year’s Junior Iditarod competitors.

The future of mushing is bright, and today, these 10 juniors are the stars.

The finish line at Happy Trails from the 2014 race. Photo Credit: Terrie Hanke

The first to cross the finish line (unofficially) with all 10 dogs was Morgan Martens, who hails from Wisconsin. He ran some of Ryan Redington’s dogs and said his favorite part of the whole trail was the final homestretch. Morgan crossed the line at 1:35pm AKST. 

Second place went to Kristal Hansen who remarked that the conditions definitely played a factor in the race. She said how the wind really picked up in intensity compared to yesterday and that some parts of the trail were very windblown as a result. She also stated that at times the snow was up to her waist alongside the trail and only a few inches in others. 

Rounding out the top 3 was Anna Coke who also spoke to the conditions. She said that she got more windburn today and joked about having to pull her sled out of a lot more snow drifts due to the amount of wind and snow.

Morgan Martens, The 2021 Jr Iditarod winner with his newly won sled! Photo Credit: Jr. Iditarod

2021 Junior Iditarod Awards. Photo Credit: Alaska Laser Design

In 4th place was Hannah Wappett who said the trail was slow today but fun. 5th place went to Cassidy Meyer who checked in at 3:44pm AKST followed only a couple minutes later by the 6th place finisher Jace Cogdill who immediately raised his arms in celebration after coming to a stop. Coming in 7th was Ellen Redington followed by James Shawcroft in 8th, who recounts working with Ellen on a section of the trail that was blown over by snow. He stated he strapped on his snowshoes and was breaking trail while Ellen worked the sleds until a snowmachiner arrived to clear the trail. Ava Moore Smyth crossed the line 9th and Jessica Dixon rounded out the field as the last one to cross. 

The official results will be posted, and the awards and accolades will be passed out later this evening as well. 

Congratulations again to all who competed, thank you to all of those who volunteered and supported the race, and we look forward to another exciting Junior Iditarod in 2022.

Thermometer on a musher’s sled. Photo Credit: Terrie Hanke

Thermometer on a musher’s sled. Photo Credit: Terrie Hanke

Teachers: The weather and temperature during the race is always a factor to account for. Depending on where the musher hails from also determines how they report the temperature that day. Above are a couple thermometers that were mounted on sleds. Have your students take a look at these and discuss the difference in Fahrenheit and Celsius.