Jessie Holmes, a former reality television star, won the longest-ever Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Friday, celebrating with fist pumps to a cheering crowd and posing for photos with his two floral wreath-adorned head teammates,

NOME — Jessie Holmes, a 43-year-old Alabamian who came to Alaska more than 20 years ago, has earned his first win in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Holmes crossed under the burled arch in Nome just before 3 a.m. Friday with 10 dogs on the line, completing his journey in a preliminary time of 10 days, 14 hours, 55 minutes and 41 seconds.

The Interior Alaska musher won his first Iditarod on his eighth try, arriving in Nome with his dog team early Friday.

After the 2020 race, it took a vintage plane to get Thomas Waerner and his 16 dogs back home to Norway from Alaska at the start of the pandemic.

Thanks to a lack of snow, this year’s edition of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race needed a new route across the Alaska wilderness. The course change adds more than 100 mile.

Holmes had a three-hour lead over his closest competitor, Matt Hall, who said he had stopped trying to catch up.

Jessie Holmes, a former reality television star, has won the longest-ever Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Alaska. Holmes was first to the finish line in the Gold Rush town of Nome, on the Bering Sea coast. The race began March 3 in Fairbanks after a lack of snow forced changes to the route and starting point.

NOME, Alaska (AP) — Jessie Holmes, a former reality television star, won the longest-ever Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Friday, celebrating with fist pumps to a cheering crowd and posing for photos with his two floral wreath-adorned head teammates, Hercules and Polar.

The 53rd Iditarod belongs to Jessie Holmes. The Nenana musher — who made his way to Alaska after growing up in Alabama — dominated the race, leading for much of the way and claiming five of the six major checkpoint awards along the way.