Repeat Winner: Jessie Holmes, Dogs Capture Second Iditarod Crown

Make it two Iditarod titles in a row for Jessie Holmes and his dogs. Here are some details from ESPN and the Associated Press:

Holmes guided his dog team across the finish line Tuesday night in the old Gold Rush town of Nome, a Bering Sea coastal community, after traveling for more than nine days. He pumped both fists in the air as the crowd cheered for him and his team of 12 dogs, who devoured some meat after finishing.

“I’ve been chasing greatness ever since the last time I was here,” Holmes said, noting that he had been thinking of others who followed up initial wins with a second, third or fourth. “So we’re just going to keep chasing those footsteps, trying to push ourselves every day to be better.”

Last year, Zeus, one of Holmes’ lead dogs, was a 2-year-old finishing his first Iditarod after leading a couple of runs. This year, Holmes said, Zeus led every run except one. Holmes had been keeping back older lead dog Polar so he wouldn’t have to do so much work, but he put him in after the last checkpoint before Nome.