Editor’s note: Richland Source is posting daily updates on Mansfield native Matthew Failor’s efforts at the 2025 Iditarod Sled Dog Race, which began March 3. Stories post daily at 7 a.m. and are updated during the day on the Richland Source Facebook page. This exclusive coverage is made possible through the support of St. Peter’s School and is done with the cooperation of Iditarod.com Insider.
ON THE IDITAROD TRAIL, Alaska — Liz can tell Theo his daddy will likely be home tomorrow.
Just not sure when, exactly.
Mansfield native and Iditarod Trail Sled Dog race Matthew Failor cruised across nearly 50 miles of windswept and frozen sea ice of Norton Bay on Thursday night, mushing into the Koyuk checkpoint Friday at 1:12 a.m. (AKDT), just 170 miles away from the burled arch finish line in Nome.
The 43-year-old St. Peter’s High School graduate immediately went into the routine of parking his team, putting down straw and feeding and watering his dogs, a routine he has followed repeatedly since the race began more than 10 days ago in Fairbanks.
In 2024, Failor made the trip from Koyuk to Nome in just over 36 hours, including the mandatory eight-hour rest at White Mountain.
If he matches that effort in 2025, the veteran musher will finish his 14th Iditarod on Saturday.
Regardless of when, his wife, Liz, and son, Theo, will be waiting for him in Nome, a community of about 3,700 residents on the west coast of Alaska — 1,128 miles from where Failor began the race March 3 in Fairbanks.
Using a route revised by the Iditarod Trail Committee due to low snow in southeast Alaska, it’s the longest Iditarod in the event’s history by more than 100 miles.
The journey from Shaktoolik, which can be difficult during winter storms, was relatively calm as mushers raced under a “blood moon eclipse” coming across the Bering Sea bay.
Iditarod.com Insider reported snow machine users noted the trail across the bay was windy, but well marked.
They stated it was like a “highway” compared to the rough and rugged sections mushers found during the earlier racing on the Yukon River.
Failor left Shaktoolik on Thursday at 6:31 p.m. (AKDT) and rested his eight remaining dogs for nearly six hours, arriving in Koyuk less than seven hours later.
He arrived in Koyuk in temperatures of 3-below zero running in 12th place. Fellow veteran musher Nicolas Petit, in 11th place, pulled into the checkpoint at 12:52 a.m., just minutes ahead of Failor.
Musher Riley Dyche, running in 10th place, arrived in Koyuk on Thursday at 11:02 p.m. (AKDT).
Another veteran Iditarod musher, Anna Berrington, was running 13th on Friday morning, though her team was still resting at Shaktoolik, well behind Petit and Failor.
Ahead are checkpoints at Elim (1,008 miles into the race), White Mountain (1,057 miles), Safety (1,106 miles) and then the final sprint into Nome.
If Failor finishes 12th, it will be his second-best finish in what’s been dubbed “The Last Great Race.” He was eighth in 2023 and has been 13th twice, including the 2024 race.
Jesse Holmes wins and crosses under new ‘burled arch’ in Nome
Veteran musher Jesse Holmes, an Alabama native, won the 2025 Iditarod on Friday morning, crossing under a new “burled arch” on Front Street in Nome with 10 dogs in harness just before 3 a.m. (AKDT).
Holmes arrived in White Mountain Thursday at 8:39 a.m. (AKDT) on Thursday and began his eight-hour mandatory rest. He departed for the 77-mile run to Nome at 4:54 p.m.
Holmes finished ahead of veteran mushers Matt Hall and Paige Drobney in second and third, crossing the finish in 10 days and 15 hours.
“That was 10 quality days. I got my money’s worth,” he said at the finish line.
“I damn sure ain’t tired. It’s not about this moment now. It’s about all those moments out on the trail,” he said. “It’s unreal. It’s been an amazing 10 days. I soaked in every moment of it.
“The dogs did it. They deserve all the credit,” Holmes told Iditarod.com Insider interviewers.
The 43-year-old Holmes, perhaps better known for his work as a TV personality on National Geographic’s Emmy-award winning show “Life Below Zero,” claimed his first Iditarod title after finishing third, fifth and third the last three years.
Holmes left Alabama at the age of 18 to see Alaska. But he ended up in Montana where he worked as a carpenter for three years. He got to Alaska in 2004 and found adventure running dogs on a remote trap line on the Yukon River, which led to sled dog racing.
A subsistence resident of Nenana, Alaska, Holmes works as a carpenter and TV personality. He lists his hobbies as running ultra-marathons, hunting and fishing.
“We fully extend our heartfelt congratulations to Jessie Holmes,” said Rob Urbach, Iditarod CEO.
“He has exhibited incredible resilience, an unbreakable esprit de corps and extraordinary care for the dogs. Moreover, his stamina is inspiring; and its fitting that after 1,128 miles (the longest race in history) his energy on Front Street in Nome was felt by all of Iditarod Nation as he joyously claimed victory under the new arch,” Urbach said.
Holmes crossed under burled Arch II, which was unveiled Thursday afternoon with race fans lining the chute area to get their first glimpse of the arch that will stand many years into the future.
Each of the previous arches lasted about 25 years. The original arch was created by Red “Fox” Olson, who after finishing the race in 1974 was underwhelmed by the red Kool-Aid used to make the official finish line.
Olson and the Fairbanks Lions Club spent 500 hours shaping the spruce log and routing an inscription on it. Arch 1 was first used in 1975 and the first musher to cross under it was Emmitt Peters of Ruby.
The arch cracked into five pieces as it was being transported to its summer resting place in 1999. After it was pieced back together, the arch was hung in the Nome Recreation Center.
In the spring of 1999, Jim Skogstand donated a burled spruce tree from his property to the Iditarod for Arch II. The 28-foot log was carved and lettered by Bob Kuiper and was ready for the 2000 race.
The first musher to pass under the new arch was Doug Swingley for his third Iditarod victory. This arch had more than 50 burls of all shapes and sizes. After the letters were routed, they were painted and the entire arch was coated with commercial grade log oil.
In 2013, the arch was given a facelift and lasted through the 2024 race. Like Arch I, as it was set in its summer resting spot, it collapsed into a pile of decayed wood.
The City of Nome and Iditarod invited Iditarod veteran Ramey Smyth, who constructs log homes, to create Arch III. Smyth and his family were honored to take on the project as the Smyths have been a part of Iditarod since his mother, Lolly Medley, finished the race as the second woman ever to cross the finish line in 1974 in the pre-arch era.
Since that time the Smyth’s family, including, mother Lolly, father Bud Smyth, brother Cim, Ramey and his wife, Becca Moore, have been a part of 51 Iditarod runs.
Our exclusive local coverage of Matthew Failor in the 2025 Iditarod is made possible with the cooperation of the Iditarod Trail Committee. To learn more about the non-profit organization, visit www.iditarod.com. You can also learn how to become an Iditarod Insider and access all of the live streams, GPS tracking system and video interviews with Failor and other mushers.
