The winner of this year’s Iditarod was crowned last night, and it’s a familiar face. Defending champion Jessie Holmes completed the race in 9 days, 7 hours, and 32 minutes, having led for most of the journey after setting out on March 8. Holmes — perhaps best known to mainstream audiences as a cast member on the National Geographic reality show Life Below Zero — is now only the third competitor in Iditarod history to successfully defend a first-time title the following year. He took home approximately $80,000 in prize money.
A Trail With Deep Roots
Long before the Iditarod was a race, it was a lifeline. Portions of the Iditarod Trail were used by Native Alaskan peoples hundreds of years before Russian fur traders arrived in the 1800s. The trail reached its peak between the late 1880s and the mid-1920s, when miners flooded the region in pursuit of coal and, later, gold. With northern ports like Nome icebound from October through June, dog sleds were the primary way to deliver mail, firewood, mining equipment, gold ore, food, furs, and other supplies between trading posts and settlements across the Interior and along the western coast. During the mining boom, mushing was also a beloved winter sport in towns that otherwise shut down for the season.
The race takes its name from the now-abandoned town of Iditarod and commemorates both the last great gold rush in America and the critical role that sled dogs played in Alaska’s settlement and development. The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race was officially established in 1973 with three goals: to push for the Iditarod Trail’s designation as a National Historic Trail, to revive the fading tradition of dog sledding in Alaska’s villages, and to grow the sport of competitive mushing.
What the Race Actually Looks Like
The Iditarod runs from Anchorage to Nome. Mushers and their teams of 12 to 16 dogs cover the distance in anywhere from 8 to 15 days or more, battling blizzards, whiteout conditions, sub-zero temperatures, and gale-force winds that can push the wind chill to −100°F. The trail winds through tundra and spruce forests, over hills and mountain passes, across frozen rivers, and even over sea ice.
The original sled dogs were bred for strength and stamina, but today’s racing dogs are mixed-breed huskies selected for speed, tough feet, endurance, good attitude, and above all, the desire to run. They are serious athletes. Training begins in late summer or early fall and ramps up between November and March — competitive teams log around 2,000 miles before the race even begins. During the race, each dog needs 10,000 to 12,000 calories a day, and all of them wear booties to protect their paws from the ice, snow, and rocky terrain. Dog welfare is taken seriously: every dog is examined by a veterinarian before the start, and vets check in at every checkpoint along the trail.
It’s also not a cheap sport. Most modern teams cost between $10,000 and $40,000 to run, and the top ten contenders typically spend $80,000 to $100,000 per year.
The Lantern That Never Goes Out
One of the race’s most enduring traditions begins before any musher takes a step: a lantern is lit at the finish line in Nome when the race starts, and it stays lit until the very last team crosses. It’s a nod to the old “widow’s lamp” — a custom used to track whether sled drivers were still out on the trail or had safely reached their destination.
The final finisher receives the Red Lantern Award, a tradition that honors perseverance and treats the act of finishing as an achievement in its own right. The longest Red Lantern time on record was set in the very first race in 1973, when John Schultz finished in 32 days, 15 hours, 9 minutes, and 1 second. On the other end of the spectrum, the fastest finish in Iditarod history belongs to Dallas Seavey, who crossed the line in 2021 in just 7 days, 14 hours, 8 minutes, and 57 seconds.
Somewhere between those two bookends lies the story of every musher who has ever set out on the trail — including Jessie Holmes, who has now written his chapter twice.