Wade Marrs Earns Wells Fargo Gold Coast Award

Which came first, Wade Marrs or the blue sky? The events were actually simultaneous. As a few patches of blue sky became visible through the clouds, Wade Marrs and team trotted smartly into the Unalakleet checkpoint. A hundred or so spectators cheered as the first musher of the 45th Iditarod made the Gold Coast. Marrs arrived at 16:04 after traversing the 90-mile distance from Kaltag in 10 hours and 37 minutes. He came in with 13 dogs.  Nicolle Welch, district manager for Western Alaska and Drew McCann, Nome branch manager, presented the Wells Fargo Gold Coast award.  Wells Fargo has been a race sponsor for twenty-nine years.

The Wells Fargo Gold Coast award consists of a gold cup trophy and $3,500 worth of gold nuggets. The gold nuggets are locally sourced from the Bering Sea region and were purchased from a longtime resident and gold miner.

Nicolle welcomed Wade to Unalakleet then turned the presentation over to Drew who poured the gold nuggets into the gold cup. Wade was smiling the whole time. He reached into the cup and faked tossing a handful into the air. Wade said, “I’ve never gotten any gold. I’m in awe of having my name on a trophy with Jeff King, Lance Mackey and other greats.”

Wade says, “I’ve never gotten any gold before…”

Marrs bedded his team down and began cooking their dinner before the award was presented. After feeding his speedy athletes, Marrs came up to the checkpoint to partake in the famous Unalakleet cuisine – sourdough blueberry pancakes along with bacon and an assortment of baked goods like ham, cheese and jalapeno rolls. Right now he’s studying the race statistic sheets and tweaking his next strategic moves. Marrs has put his wake-up call in and will take off for Shaktoolik early this evening.