Former reality TV star Jessie Holmes wins longest-ever Iditarod dog race

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Jessie Holmes, a former reality television star, won the longest-ever Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Friday, celebrating with fist pumps to a cheering crowd and posing for photos with his two floral wreath-adorned head teammates, Hercules and Polar.Holmes was first to the finish line in the Gold Rush town of Nome, on the Bering Sea coast.The race began March 3 in Fairbanks after a lack of snow forced changes to the route and starting point.That made the normally 1,000-mile (1,609-kilometer) race a staggering 1,129 miles (1,817 kilometers) across the Alaska wilderness.

Holmes finished in 10 days, 14 hours, 55 minutes and 41 seconds.“It’s hard to put into words, but it’s a magical feeling,” Holmes said shortly after crossing the finish line.“It’s not about this moment now.

It’s about all those moments along the trail.”He will take home $57,200 for winning the race, along with awards including $4,500 worth of gold nuggets and 25 pounds of fresh salmon for finishing first in earlier stages.Holmes, who was competing for the eighth time, previously finished in the top 10 five times, including third last year and in 2022.In his first Iditarod, in 2018, his seventh-place finish earned him Rookie of the Year honors.Matt Hall, who was born in Eagle, a tiny community on the Yukon River in eastern Alaska and began mushing at age 2, finished in second place.

His parents owned an expedition company, and he grew up with sled dogs and guiding weeklong trips for clients.This year’s longer distance was grueling, he said after crossing the line three hours after Holmes.“It was too long,” he said with a laugh.Paige Drobny finished third, becoming the first woman on the podium since Jessie Royer placed third in 2020.

It was Drobny’s 10th attempt in the race.Drobny lives in Cantwell, Alaska, with her husband and fellow long-distance musher Cody Strathe where they raise sled dogs at Squid Acres Kennel.The name comes from her master...