Veteran Matt Hall from Two Rivers rested three hours in Unalakleet before heading over the Blue Berry Hills to Shaktoolik. This is his 6th Iditarod. He has two top ten finishes with his best being fourth place. Hall is running in third place behind Jessie Holmes and Dallas Seavey. Seavey is leading the two challengers …
Veteran Iditarod musher, Hunter Keefe (bib #10), of Knik, Alaska scratched at 11:30 p.m. today at the Unalakleet checkpoint pursuant to Rule 42. Keefe had 10 dogs in harness when he scratched.
Veteran Iditarod musher, Deke Naaktgeboren (bib #34), of Fairbanks, Alaska, scratched at 8:19 p.m. today at the Nulato checkpoint in the best interest of his team. Naaktgeboren had 10 dogs in harness when he arrived in Nulato, all in good health.
Jessie Holmes has never been first to Unalakleet but that changed this afternoon at 12:33 when Holmes glided into the Gold Coast community behind his team of 11 dogs. Holmes was greeted by Kermit Ivanoff the checker and Mark Nordman Race Director. Nordman introduced Cheryl Johnson, presenter of the Ryan Air Gold Coast Award. Holmes …
Rookie Iditarod musher, Connor McMahon (bib #3), of Carcross, Yukon Territory, Canada, scratched at 4:30 p.m. today at the Galena checkpoint in the best interest of his team. McMahon had 11 dogs in harness when he arrived in Galena, all in good health.
Rookie Iditarod musher, Issac Teaford (bib #15), of Salt Lake City, Utah scratched at 2:25 p.m. today at the Nulato checkpoint. Teaford had 12 dogs in harness when he made the decision to scratch.
Race Photographer, Siri Raitto, made it to Kaltag ahead of Travis Beals who was the first to arrive in the checkpoint. Teams parked near the Kaltag Community Center. The community building is often an eight sided structure with a cupola. Children enjoy watching the mushers care for their dogs. The most asked question …
Veteran musher Jessie Holmes (bib #9), of Brushkana, Alaska, is the first musher to reach the Unalakleet checkpoint at 12:33 p.m. with 11 dogs in harness, making him the recipient of the Ryan Air Gold Coast Award. This award was first presented in 1987 and will be presented this year by Cheryl Johnson, Human …
Rookie Iditarod musher, Erin Altemus (bib #23), of Grand Marais, Minnesota, scratched at 9:38 a.m. today at the Ruby checkpoint in the best interest of her team. Altemus had 10 dogs in harness when she arrived in Ruby, all in good health.
As expected with the pace at the front of the pack picking up, the distance from leader to the final musher has lengthened. Unalakleet (you-na-la-kleet) sits at mile 714 with teams about two-thirds of the way there from Kaltag. Tracker shows seven top contenders resting at mile 676. Tracker also shows Erin Altemus and Bryce …
