Jessie Holmes wins 2026 Iditarod!

Jessie Holmes of Brushkana, Alaska, notched his second consecutive Iditarod win on Tuesday, March 17 when he reached the burled arch at 9:32 p.m. with 12 dogs in harness, after nine days, seven hours and 32 minutes on the trail.
Holmes took early command of the race, and credited his strategy of resting his dogs for building momentum that would catapult him to a second consecutive victory. Clearly overcome with emotions as he fed his dog team prime rib steaks at the finish line, he talked about his tight bond with them and how he dreads not being with them every minute as he has over the past nine days on the trail.
“I am so full of gratitude and gratefulness, being welcomed into all these communities, and being out in all this beautiful country with the most amazing dog team I've ever seen,” Holmes said. He spoke of his lead dogs Zeus and Polar. “He [Zeus] led every run, except for one run in this race and Polar, I put him in after Safety. And, man, when I put Polar up there, he puffed his chest out, he got his strut on, and he said, ‘let's go.’ It was amazing.”
Under clear skies, with the fading sunlight, cold temperatures hovering around -5°F and no discernable wind, the team had an uneventful run for the last 77 miles from White Mountain to Nome, a stretch of trail that is known to have changed the outcome of the race in the past. Not so this year. Strong winds at Finger Lake early on in the race had rattled teams and their mushers, cold temperatures followed and Holmes spoke about the relentless wind between Kaltag and Unalakleet that frostbit his face.
A roaring crowd greeted him in Nome, with chants of “Jessie, Jessie, Jessie.” After snacking his dogs with steaks, being checked in to this last checkpoint and taking a victory lap around the chute to greet his fans, Holmes received his winning check for $80,000, which he says will go right back into buying dog food and booties for the next races, and to keep the kennel going. He was then ushered onto the champion’s podium for the obligatory photo of him and his lead dogs Zeus and Polar.
The dog team was taken to the Iditarod dog lot down the street for a well-earned rest and meal. Holmes then arrived to applause at the Mini Convention Center – Nome’s Iditarod headquarters – where he told of his incredible journey, the ups and downs he felt on the trail and expressing gratitude for living the lifestyle of a dog musher, living the dream. He spoke of the time on day two, when he was soaking wet from falling into an open creek, in bitter cold and the zipper on his overboot broke. Fighting back negative thoughts, he reminded himself this is what Iditarod mushers sign up for. “It’s a actually a blessing to face adversity,” he said.
Iditarod CEO Rob Urbach called Holmes a “legacy builder” with a great future in the sport. Holmes rejected the idea of legacy, saying “I think of it more as a spiritual thing and keep trying to put my best foot forward and keep doing what we do. I’m not hung up on the numbers or want to be better than anybody. I think what makes me good, is that I build my schedule around the dogs, the rest of the dogs, the care of the dogs, hydration, the way that they eat – those are my biggest concerns,” Holmes said. 
He said he plans to race the Kobuk 440 next and is looking forward to a couple weeks vacation in Mexico this summer.
The next musher to arrive in Nome was Travis Beals at 1:58 a.m. on Wednesday, March 18.