Joar Leifseth Ulsom is, as Matthew Smith repeatedly described him live on KNOM on Wednesday, a “man of few words.” But at his finish for Iditarod 2015, the few words he did have to say were positive: both about the cheering race fans around him and the long race that had brought him to the Burled Arch in 6th place.
“It’s good to be here,” he said. “(There are) a lot of nice people in Nome that have been cheering me on.”
The dogs looked good, Matt reported on-air, and Ulsom confirmed that he was “excited about them” — not to mention, “super happy” with the 6th-place finish his dogs had won.
Ulsom’s top-ten finish brought delight not only to Nome and environs but, in all likelihood, to other sub-Arctic Iditarod fans thousands of miles away, since he’s the top finisher of three Norwegians in this Iditarod 43 (the other two are Thomas Wærner and Yvonne Dabakk).
It’ll likely please circumpolar Ulsom fans both in Scandinavia and Alaska, too, to know that Joar will “probably” be back for the 2016 Iditarod.
As for this year’s race, the 6th-place Iditarod 2015 finisher says “it was all good.”
(Photos from Joar Leifseth Ulsom’s Wednesday arrival in Nome follow below; click or tap through to view photos and captions in a full-window viewer. The recording of our live, finish broadcast is above.)
