NOME – Teams in the 2026 Iditarod continued mushing to the 1,000-mile race’s finish here Wednesday, hoping to secure sizable chunks of the purse after Jessie Holmes won the big money and his second championship in a row late Tuesday.
Holmes’ repeat is an achievement only five other mushers have accomplished in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race’s 54 years. Several others trailing Holmes to the finish line broke personal records.
Veteran Seward musher Travis Beals pulled under the Burled Arch, the Iditarod’s finish line, just before 2 a.m. Wednesday, more than four hours after Holmes clinched victory. Beals has placed in the top 10 five times before, and finishing as runner-up in 2026 is his best in a dozen Iditarod starts.
At the finish line, Beals’ wife, Sarah Stokey, and two young sons greeted him. The boys were happy to see their dad for the first time in more than a week.
“I've been dreaming about winning this race since I was about this guy's age,” Beals said, holding his oldest son. “It's been a long road, and I think we've learned a little bit every year, and certainly learn some more this year.”
Beals said he had a “powerful force” with him on the trail: His mother, Susan Lynn Simonds-McHone, who passed away in December.
“She was riding with me every step of the way,” he said. “I was joking on the way in, ‘Mom, pretty good for your first Iditarod.’”
Beals passed four teams in less than a day to slip into second place, which he never gave up, trailing Holmes up the Bering Sea coastline.
Fairbanks musher Jeff Deeter came in third, his highest finish. Deeter, now 36 years old, first competed in the Iditarod at the age of 19. He arrived in Nome at 5:10 a.m. Wednesday.
Deeter said he hadn’t been confident coming into the race that his team was competitive.
“I was just going to be happy with top 10 or top 15,” Deeter said. “But watching them move down the trail and kind of seeing what the team was able to perform like, I felt pretty confident by day three.”
Deeter scratched in 2022, placed fourth in 2024 and scratched again in 2025.
About 25 minutes after Deeter pulled in, another Interior veteran, Cantwell musher Paige Drobny, finished the race in fourth.
Drobny said she had mushed behind a talented, happy team, evidenced by how well the dogs had eaten along the way.
“They're a fantastic group of dogs. I feel super lucky to be able to be their person that takes them on the trail,” Drobny said. “When they're in sync, it feels like you're floating behind them.”
Just as the race began March 8, Drobny’s Squid Acres Kennel announced she had been diagnosed the previous fall with an aggressive form of breast cancer and undergone treatment.
Asked about it in Nome, Drobny described cancer as just another obstacle to overcome.
“Dog mushing teaches you a lot about adversity and mental challenges,” she said. “This is just another blip in the roadmap.”
Drobny has raced the Iditarod 11 times, and, having never scratched, finished in the top 10 five times.
Willow musher Wade Marrs crossed the finish line Wednesday at 11:02 a.m. It’s his 13th Iditarod and second-highest finish. He placed fourth in 2016 and 2021.
Rounding out the top 10 were Matt Hall, Riley Dyche, Lauro Eklund, Pete Kaiser and Michelle Phillips, all of whom arrived in Nome on Wednesday.
The remaining 20 mushers were spread across about 150 miles of trail late Wednesday. That included Ontario musher Jesse Terry and Sam Martin, from Chelmsford, Massachusetts. Both rookies were on a mandatory eight-hour layover Wednesday afternoon in White Mountain.
Terry arrived in White Mountain a little less than an hour ahead of Martin, setting up a possible race for Rookie of the Year across the final 77 miles to Nome.
As of Wednesday, four mushers had scratched from the Iditarod, including veteran Millie Porsild, whose dog died outside the village checkpoint of Elim.
Editor’s note: KNOM's Ben Townsend and Margaret Sutherland contributed to this story.
