50th Iditarod finishes with 37 mushers in Nome
The 50th running of the Iditarod came to a close on Saturday, March 19 at 11:39 p.m. when Apayqauq Reitan crossed the finish line as the last and 37th musher to finish the race. A large crowd gathered on Front Street, to welcome Reitan as she drove her seven dogs under the burled arch, after having spent 13 days, 8 hours and 39 minutes on the trail.
Most finishers and her dad Ketil Reitan greeted her in Nome and watched as she extinguished both the red lantern and the Widow’s Lantern. Iditarod musher Barb Moore handed her the Red Lantern saying that in 1980, she was the recipient of the red lantern.
The race came to an official end with every musher off the trail. Of the 49 teams who started, 37 made it to Nome. The last stretch of trail proved to be treacherous for six teams who were caught in severe ground storm in the Topkok Hills and who were forced to scratch as they either pushed the Help button on their trackers or accepted outside help from Search and Rescue teams.
Throughout the race, once mushers hit the Norton Sound coast, strong winds were a factor from Unalakleet all the way to the finish line in Nome. Mushers fought ground storms across the sea ice. An open lead developed outside of Elim, causing some teams to have to swim across the narrow lead. Winds were fierce enough to turn former Iditarod champion Mitch Seavey around to retreat to the previous checkpoint. Two mushers, Mille Porsild and Michelle Phillips, received a time penalty when the brought their dogs out of the wind and into a shelter cabin near Elim, in violation of a rule that prohibits dogs in shelter cabins.
Nome’s Aaron Burmeister, who announced that this would be his last running of the Iditarod, joked that this year presented every challenge that Iditarod can throw at a musher: warm temperatures in the beginning, glare ice, moguls and dirt in the Farewell Burn, heavy snow on the Yukon, more moguls on the Portage trail and fierce winds on the coast.
Musher Matt Failor reported that near Galena, an aggressive moose threatened dog teams and he had to dispatch the animal.
Jeff King, who didn’t plan on racing this year, ended up driving Nic Petit’s team to Nome, after Petit tested positive for COVID and wasn’t allowed to start. King ran his first Iditarod 41 years ago and placed 28th, in a time of 15 days. This year, the four-time champion placed also in 28th position, but with a time of 11 days, one hour and 58 minutes.
King reminisced of traveling the trail with Herbie Nayokpuk, wondering about the odd, cylindric shape of his food drop bags until King figured out that those were skinned seals, which Nayokpuk then proceeded to chop for his dogs.
Martin Buser, who finished his 39th race also took a trip down memory lane, contemplating that he now sees third generation mushers, volunteers and host families in what he called a ‘most unusual event.”
Mitch Seavey, three-time champion, who ran his 28th race this year with a younger dog team voiced optimism that there is a new generation of mushers coming up that give him reason the think that great things lay ahead with the race.
Dan Kaduce of Chatanika was the only musher to finish with all 14 dogs that he started with. He finished in a career best fourth place with all dogs on the line, which earned him the prestigious Leonard Seppala Humanitarian Award. The Rookie of the Year award went to Norway’s Hanna Lyrek. The Sportsmanship Award went to Travis Beals for lending a sled to a driver in need.
The golden harness winners were Brent Sass’ lead dogs Morello and Slater.