In Red Lantern position, Quince Mountain is resting in Shageluk. Jessie Holmes, first musher to the coast, has checked out of Shaktoolik. From the nose of Quince’s leader to Jessie’s Polar there’s roughly 290 miles. From Quince to Sydnie Bahl who is in Grayling – north there’s 28 miles. Up the trail, Jessie Holmes, Matt Hall and Paige Drobny are spread over just 16 miles. There’s a 38 mile gap between Drobny and Michelle Phillips who has just departed Unalakleet.
Mille Porsild is the lonely musher in UNK. Ryan Redington and Mitch Seavey are less than 10 miles out of Unalakleet. While anything can happen, the gap between the three leaders and the chasers just coming to the coast, seems to suggest the race is between Holmes, Hall and Drobny. However, from past races, race fans know the coast is a weather event waiting to happen. Not if, but when. Mother Nature, what do you have up your sleeve? Who’s in the middle of the pack?
Jason Mackey who, in bib #2, lead the 2025 field out of Fairbanks is now running in 13th place with 10 dogs in harness. Mackey ran his first Iditarod in 2004. He has 9 starts with 8 finishes. His best finish came in 2024 at 16th place. His best time was back in 2017, another Fairbanks route, 9 days, 6 hours and 19 minutes. Jason took time off between his 2017 and 2023 Iditarod runs to rebuild both himself and his kennel. In 2023, Mackey carried Lance’s ashes as well as their mothers and spread them along the trail. He completed the race with 5 dogs in harness. His fellow mushers honored him as the Most Inspirational Musher for not only the precious cargo he distributed but for adjusting his race to finish with five strong dogs. Mackey is currently running between Eagle Island and Kaltag North.
Anna Berington made her first Iditarod start in 2012. Anna has started 13 and completed 12 of those starts. The scratch came in 2020 at Unalakleet when the twins learned of the passing of a grandparent. She and her identical twin sister, Kristy, trained together, ran together and finished together in most of those races. Now they’ve decided to focus their efforts differently. Kristy will do some mid distance races, leaving the Iditarod to Anna. Anna’s best finish is 17th place. Her best time is 10 days, 2 hours and 15 minutes on the Fairbanks route of 2017. Anna had a very disorienting experience early in the race on the way to Tanana in the sand storm that impacted a number of mushers. She was disappointed in the amount of time lost during that experience. Anna is running with 12 dogs and likely will be very happy to get off the Yukon River.
Lauro Eklund who started in bib #23 is a newcomer to the race having earned his finisher’s belt buckle just last year when he finished in 26th place. Eklund grew up in Alaska near the Yukon River. He now resides in Two Rivers near Fairbanks. His father, Neil, is an Iditarod veteran of the ‘80s. Lauro and his father operate a tour business, race dogs and use dogs for hunting, trapping and fishing in their subsistence, true Alaskan life style. During tours, the Eklunds share the ins and outs of the mushing lifestyle from caring for and training dogs to what it takes to live in Alaska’s bush. Eklund says that one winter he got to drive a dog team from Galena. He always knew he wanted to drive dogs but it was that experience that pointed him toward racing. Earhart, Mackey and Swingley bloodlines are the basis of the Eklund kennel. Lauro is a veteran of the 2025 Yukon Quest 550 (3rd place) and finished the Copper Basin 300 in 6th place back in January. Eklund, Berington and Mackey are running together at mile 757 as they head north to Kaltag.
Jessie Holmes as the first musher to Unalakleet received the Ryan Air Gold Coast Award last evening at around sunset. Holmes was greeted by many residents of Unalakleet who stayed around, enjoying the beautiful evening to welcome Matt Hall arriving 21 minutes after Holmes. Neither musher put down straw to stay in Unalakleet.
The Ryan Air Gold Coast Award presented by Wade Ryan included gold nuggets valued over $1,500 from the Bering Straits region as well as a pair of beautiful hand carved loons. The award will be represented at the Finisher’s banquet in Nome on March 17th.
Just a quick look at GPS tracker seems to indicate that Holmes has taken short rests between short runs rather than the expected 66 mile treks between Kaltag and White Mountain. Also unexpected, he’s resting IN Koyuk. But then. it’s a musher’s responsibility to read the dogs and do what’s for them by adjusting run/rest to trail conditions and weather. Stay tuned!
