Here’s Your 2019 Iditarod Winner

We had a correspondent for the ceremonial start of the 2019 Iditarod on March 2 and we’ll have a report in our April issue. Almost 10 days later, in the wee hours of the evening in Nome, Peter Kaiser brought his team into the finish line in nine days, 12 hours, 39 minutes and six seconds. Here’s KTUU with a little more about Kaiser’s win (see above video as well). He’s the first Yup’ik winner of the “Last Great Race On Earth”:

According to Iditarod officials, Kaiser had eight dogs in harness when he crossed the finish line to win the Iditarod XLVII title. He will be awarded his prize money as well as a new 2019 Ram truck on March 17.

Kaiser came in 12 minutes ahead of defending champion Joar Leifseth Ulsom, who made a late surge, but ultimately took second place at 3:51 a.m.

“It was nerve-wracking,” said Kaiser, who explained that he didn’t feel confident he had won until he drove his team down Front Street.