Nome, Alaska (AP) -Jessie Holmes, a former reality television star, won the longest everIditarod Trail Sled Dog RaceOn Friday you celebrate a cheering crowd with fist pumps and pose for photos with his two floral wreath head teammates Hercules and Polar.
Holmes was the finish line in the gold rush city of Nome, on the Bering sea Coast. The racestarted on March 3 in FairbanksAfter a lack of snow, changes in the route and the starting point forced.
This made the normally 1,609 kilometer race an astonishing race of 1,129 miles (1,817 kilometers) in the wilderness in Alaska. Holmes ended in 10 days, 14 hours, 55 minutes and 41 seconds.
“It is difficult to put into words, but it’s a magical feeling,” said Holmes shortly after crossing the finish line. “It’s not about this moment. It’s about all these moments along the trail.”
Holmes, who fought for the eighth time, was previously five times in the top 10, including the third year in the last year and in 2022. In his first idiarod 2018, his seventh outdoor runner was honored.
Holmes was born and grew up in Alabama. He was at the age of 18 and worked as a carpenter in Montana for three years. He arrived in Alaska in 2004 and found Adventure Running Dogs on a remote location of the Yukon River.
“It was really a amazing 10 days and I soaked in every part of it, the heights, the in-between. … I’m really proud of these dogs and I love them. And they did it. They deserve everyone, “said Holmes.
He gave his two main leaders, Hercules, half a sparkling dog and Polar a special greeting, who said: “He is the brain behind the operation.”
Holmes now lives in Nenana, where he works as a carpenter and lives a lifestyle for subsistence. From 2015 to 2023 he was an actor of “Life under Zero”, a National Geographic program that documented the struggles of the Alaskans in remote parts of the state.
Besides thatThe lack of snowNorth of the Alaska area, which had forced the starting point for Fairbanks, the racing organizers also had to change the ceremonial start to the anchorage.
Since Snow in Cover Street was in the Cover Street in the largest city in the state, the usual parade route there was shortened from 11 miles to less than 2 miles (from about 18 kilometers to less than 3.2 kilometers) and the number of dogs was reduced, and the number of dogs was reduced.
Only 33 Musers began in Fairbanks, associated with 2023 for the smallest field of all time. The decline of the participants has triggered concerns about the liability of the breed that had to fight with inflation, climate change andPrinting of animal rights groups.
A dog died in this year’s Iditarod: a pregnant woman in the team of Musher Daniel Klein, who scratches racial rules because of death.
Almost a third of the Musers announced early, including eight, the scratched and two who were withdrawn because they were not competitive.
This story was originally on Fortune.com
