Richard Arlin Walker
ICT
Former reality TV star Jessie Holmes won the 53rd Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Friday, March 14, ending a run that was as commanding as the race was long.
Holmes and his dog team crossed the finish line in Nome at 2:55 a.m. Alaska Time, finishing the 1,128-mile race in 10 days, 14 hours, 55 minutes 41 seconds. It was the longest race in Iditarod history after the trail was revised because of low snowfall totals on the usual route.
Ryan Redington, Inupiaq, the only Alaska Native in the race, finished eighth in the race at 5:07 a.m. local time on Saturday, March 15, completing the 1,128-mile race from Fairbanks to Nome in 11 days, 17 hours, 7 minutes and 23 seconds.
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Redington, the grandson of race founder Joe Redington Sr., now has five top 10 Iditarod finishes – including the championship in 2023. He’s also a two-time winner of the Kobuk 440 in Kotzebue, Alaska and the John Beargrease Memorial Sled Dog Marathon in northern Minnesota.
Holmes, a former Iditarod Rookie of the Year, said the race was a “magical” experience: crossing the Blueberry Hills to the Norton Sound coast, the Northern Lights dancing in the night sky and the moon shining on the snow, the thoughts of race legends who’ve inspired him and the anticipation of joining them in the exclusive club of Iditarod champions.
And so he has.
“It’s been 10 quality days. I definitely got my money’s worth,” Holmes told race officials at the finish line. “I damn sure ain’t tired.”
He shared the spotlight at the finish line with two of his dogs, Hercules and Polar, calling them “the brains behind the operation.”
Holmes, an Alabama native who moved to Alaska in 2004, is perhaps best known for his regular appearances on NatGeo’s “Life Below Zero” from 2015-2023. He is not a newcomer to the Iditarod, having previously finished third in 2022 and 2024, fifth in 2023, ninth in 2020, and seventh in his first Iditarod in 2017, which earned him the Rookie of the Year honors. He also won the 2017 Kobuk 440, a highly respected mid-distance race in Kotzebue.
Redington is one of six family members to compete in the Iditarod. His grandfather had seven top 10 finishes, including four fifth places. Ryan’s father, Raymie, placed seventh in 1974; his uncle, Joee Redington Jr., placed ninth in 1974 and third in 1975; and his brother, Ray Redington Jr., has six top 10 finishes, including a career-best fourth in 2018.
“I’m just proud to carry on the family tradition,” Ryan Redington told race officials at the finish line.
Asked about his mentorship of young mushers, he said, “I’ve been mentored a lot throughout my mushing career. It’s a chance to return it back to the sport. It’s an awesome feeling to give back and help others.”
Of his dog team and the pre-race training conditions, complicated by lack of snow, he said, “It was pretty tough this year for training. I’m proud of my dogs for what we’ve been able to do.”
Crossing the finish line
Holmes works as a carpenter and lives in Nenana in the Alaska interior, where conditions were ideal for training this season. The musher and team’s experience, discipline and training showed in their performance.
Holmes, Matt Hall and Paige Drobny leapfrogged for the lead for much of the race, but Holmes outpaced and out-rested them to widen a lead that became unsurpassable by White Mountain, where all mushers and teams are required to take an eight-hour rest.
Hall finished second about three hours behind Holmes, and Drobny finished third another three hours behind Hall. Also rolling across the finish line on March 14 were Michelle Phillips and Bailey Vitello.
On March 15, Travis Beals and three-time champion Seavey crossed the finish line ahead of Redington, and the top 10 was completed before the day was out. Mille Porsild crossed the finish line at 10:53 a.m. to place ninth, and Riley Dyche crossed the finish line at about 1:57 p.m. to place 10th.
Holmes received a check for $57,200. On his charge to Nome, Holmes also won awards for being the first musher to reach White Mountain, the Bering Sea coast, the halfway mark of Grayling, and the checkpoint at Kaltag. His winnings from those awards total $4,500 in cash, $4,500 in gold nuggets, 25 pounds of fresh Bristol Bay salmon and multiple trophies to commemorate each achievement.
Commentator Bruce Lee, an Iditarod veteran, said Holmes’ team seemed energized by the cheering crowds as they neared the finish line under police escort. The energy they displayed after the finish seemed to be a testament to their pre-season training and care during the race.
Holmes showed “remarkable strategic thinking” throughout the race, the Iditarod Race Committee said in a statement issued after the finish.
Holmes made “well-timed decisions in response to the unpredictable challenges that the Iditarod is known for. His careful balance of speed and caution allowed him to maintain a lead in the final stretch, with his sled dog team displaying exceptional endurance and teamwork.”
After the finish, Holmes snacked his dogs on beef steaks and walked over to greet the crowds and take selfies with fans. The celebrity energy and crowd reaction prompted Iditarod Insider commentator Greg Heiser to quip, “Jessie Holmes for president!”
Family traditions
Holmes, 43, was born in Alabama and moved at age 18 to Montana, where he worked as a carpenter for three years. He made it to Alaska in 2004, running dogs on a remote trap line on the Yukon River, and has lived in the Last Frontier since. His love of the wilderness and sled dogs eventually led to his competing in sprint and distance races.
Redington was one of two former Iditarod champions and the only Alaska Native in this year’s race.The other former champion, Seavey, finished seventh. Redington and his team were in the top 10 for most of the race.
Redington won the championship in 2023 and finished ninth in 2022, seventh in 2021, and eighth in 2020.
Redington’s grandfather, who was non-Native, founded the race in 1973 to celebrate the heritage of the Alaska sled dog. The race was won by Alaska Natives in 1974, 1975, 1976, 2011, 2019 and 2023. The top three finishers in 1974 and 2023 were Alaska Natives. And 2011 champion John Baker, Inupiaq, is the sixth-winningest Iditarod musher of all time, with a total of $602,658 in earnings in 22 races.
Throughout the race, Redington seemed to enjoy being on the trail with his dogs.
“The team is doing good. They’re a little frisky yet,” Redington told Iditarod Insider on March 12. “They’re having fun and it’s an enjoyable team to mush. … We had a really nice run last night. It seemed like almost a full moon. The only thing that could have made it better would have been Northern Lights to go with it.”
Thirty-three mushers and teams left the starting line in Fairbanks on March 3, one of the smallest fields in the race’s history. Some 23 mushers and teams were still in the race on March 14, believed to be the smallest field of finishers in the race’s 53 years.
From Fairbanks, mushers and dogs traveled 456 miles along the Yukon River to Kaltag, then turned south on a 329-mile loop to Shageluk and back. Upon returning to Kaltag, mushers and dogs turned west on an 81-mile run to Unalakleet, then traversed the Norton Sound coast on the 262 miles to the finish line in Nome.
UPDATE: This story has been updated to include the 8th-place finish of Inupiaq musher Ryan Redington and the other top 10 finishers.
For a day-to-day accounting of the 2025 Iditarod, read ICT’s Iditarod Notebook.
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