Kelly Maixner and Bethel’s Pete Kaiser were in close proximity on their final leg of Iditarod 2015.
On the sometimes-perilous trail between White Mountain and Nome, Maixner and Kaiser helped each other navigate — especially amid the 50-miles-per-hour winds in the infamous “Blowhole” area along the trail. They left the Safety checkpoint within a minute of each other (Kaiser at 10:57pm Wednesday, Maixner 10:58) and remained close to the very end, finishing in Nome just 5 minutes apart (Maixner 1:39am, Kaiser 1:44am).
Maixner and Kaiser completed Iditarod 2015 in a tight group of mushers battling to the Burled Arch. Paul Gebhardt, Kelly Maixner, Pete Kaiser, Christian Turner, and Ray Redington, Jr. all finished within 50 minutes of each other early Thursday morning.
Coming off a win of the Kuskokwim 300 this year, Pete Kaiser finished Iditarod 2015 with 11 dogs. Happy to be off the trail officially, Pete said the race this year was a little frustrating: “Kind of trying to find lead dogs was one of the problems this year.” Pete was greeted under the Burled Arch by friends and family, a welcome sight after a grueling race.
