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. Updates post daily at 7 a.m. and may be updated during the day. 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 — Mansfield native Matthew Failor literally crossed paths in deep snow on Sunday with Iditarod leader Jesse Holmes.
No, Failor wasn’t suddenly challenging Holmes for the lead in the 53rd version of “The Last Great Race.”
The St. Peter’s graduate, who celebrates his 43rd birthday Monday with 11 of his best canine friends on the trail, continued to run 12th halfway through his 1,128-mile race from Fairbanks to Nome, still in pursuit of his goal of a Top-10 finish.
But the two sled dog racing mushers and their teams — one headed north and one headed south — encountered one another near the Grayling checkpoint along the Yukon River.
As the teams approached, Failor slid his team to the right to give Holmes room to pass. Both teams slowed, but did not stop, leading to a failed attempt at a “high five” between the two veteran sled dog racers — Failor in his 14th run and Holmes in his eighth.
After the pass, the two mushers waved and continued on their respective races.
After the successful pass, during which neither veteran group of huskies paid much attention to one another, Holmes continued north back to Eagle Island and Failor south to the Grayling checkpoint.
The encounter would be rare, if not impossible, in most Iditarods.
But with the change in the trail map this year, due to low snow in southeast Alaska, the Iditarod Trail Committee set up a loop that takes mushers south from Kaltag to Shageluk and then back north again.
Holmes, an Alabama native perhaps better known for his work as a TV personality on National Geographic’s Emmy-award winning show “Life Below Zero,” had a 24-mile lead on musher Paige Drobney early Monday morning.
The 43-year-old Holmes is in pursuit of his first Iditarod title after finishing third, fifth and third the last three years.
Holmes left Alabama at the age of 18 to go 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.
Top 10 goal still in sight for Failor
Failor continued his attempts to climb the leaderboard after a near disastrous start that led him to take his mandatory 24-hour stop just 202 miles into the race after a sand blizzard on the Tanana River last week.
Since that Tanana checkpoint, however, Failor has mushed his way back toward a potential Top-10 finish, still with 11 dogs in harness of the 16 he began the race with on March 3.
He started chasing down teams in front of him, either by passing them on the trail or as they took their own 24-hour mandatory rest periods farther down the trail.
— Failor left the Ruby checkpoint Friday at 7:30 a.m. (AKST), 319 miles into the race, in 27th place.
— He pulled out of the Galena checkpoint Friday at 7:21 p.m. (AKST), 369 miles into the race, in 20th place.
— Failor mushed away from the Nulato checkpoint Saturday at 8:22 a.m. (AKST), 420 miles into the race, in 15th place.
— He departed the Kaltag checkpoint Saturday at 5:49 p.m. (AKST), 456 miles into the race, in 13th place.
— Failor left the Eagle Island checkpoint Sunday at 7:56 a.m. (AKDT) (526 miles into the race) in 12th place when veteran musher Gabe Dunham — a resident of Willow, Alaska, like Failor — made the decision to scratch from the race at that spot at 8:03 a.m.
Failor arrived at Grayling on Sunday at 8:07 p.m. (AKDT), making the 56-mile trip from Eagle Island in 12 hours and 11 minutes, still mushing along in 12th place. He stopped to rest his team, a break that continued into Monday morning.
When Failor leaves Grayling, he has a 21-mile journey to Anvik and 28 miles to Shageluk. From there, he turns north and repeats the process back to Kaltag, where the trail begins west toward Nome.
Failor still has a mandatory eight-hour test to take along the trail, which those he is chasing have already taken.
Failor’s career best in the Iditarod was eighth in the 2023 race. He was 13th last year and also finished 13th in 2018.
All mushers must also take a mandatory eight-hour stop in White Mountain, the second-to-last checkpoint on the trail, about 71 miles from the finish line in Nome.
Alaskan Husky Adventures handler doing well
Rookie musher Dane Baker, a Michigan native and handler for Failor, has continued to mush along with a “puppy team” of younger dogs from the Alaskan Husky Adventures kennel.
In a race that has seen six teams leave the trail, Baker pulled into Eagle Island Monday around 1 a.m. (AKDT) in 19th place.
Baker still had 11 dogs in harness when he pulled into the checkpoint.
Holmes wins Alaska Air Transit Spirit of Iditarod Award
Holmes collected his second award in two days along the Iditarod trail on Sunday.
He was the first musher to reach the Grayling 2 (the second pass through Grayling) checkpoint Sunday at 2:35 p.m. (AKDT) with 14 dogs in harness, winning the Alaska Air Transit Spirit of Iditarod Award.
Holmes had been the first musher to reach the Grayling checkpoint on Saturday during the looping run south on the revised Iditarod trail this year, the halfway point of the 2025 Iditarod, earning the GCI Dorothy G. Page Halfway Award.
Initially presented in 2019 and given to the first musher to reach the McGrath checkpoint, the Alaska Air Transit Spirit of Iditarod Award was given to the first musher to reach the Grayling 2 checkpoint for the 2025 Iditarod due to the route change.
The Grayling community has strong ties to the Iditarod and was excited to present special gifts of beaver fur musher’s mitts with beadwork on moose hide, which are handmade by Loretta Maillelle, who was raised in Grayling.
Her father, Joseph Maillelle, Sr. of Grayling, presented the handmade mitts, as well as a beaver fur hat made by Rosalie Egrass of Magrath on behalf of Alaska Air Transit.
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.
