The big news of Feb. 21 is the early arrival of the first teams to Nome. Team 7, Tyler Aklestad and Nick Olstad, came in first at 2:17 p.m. The next team to arrive in Nome was team 6, Brad George and Robby Schachle at 2:50 p.m. They were followed by team 14, Casey Boylan and Bryan Leslie who arrived at 2:59pm, just a minute before Matt Piatt and Greg Strohmeyer. Mike Morgan and Chris Olds, team 10, arrived at 3:29 p.m. Team 24, Steffan Booth and Evan Booth, followed at 3:33 p.m.

The final Nome-based team left in this race, Team 23 of Jordan Miller and Jarvis Miller, arrived in Nome at 3:59 p.m.

In regards to those who have not arrived in Nome yet as of 5pm, many of the racers have checked out of Koyuk. Three teams checked out of Unalakleet: team 40 Mark Nelson and Daniel Thomas, team 15, Bret Bohn and Tommy Germany, and team 25 Geoff Crouse and Trevor Helwig. Team 4, Jim Baldwin and Zach Williamson, and team 19 Chad Moore and Travis Temple, took a layover in Unalakleet. Team 18 Jesse Bradley and Tad Covault left Poorman.

In other news, there were a few teams who scratched out at Ruby: team 38, Jeff Stoll and Dan Zimmerman, and team 16, Gage Schaack of Cold Bay and Joe Brady. Team 2, Jacob Dahle and Leah Bauer also scratched out of Galena, due to a fire on one of their sleds. Team 39, Cody Barber and Brett Lapham, scratched out at Unalakleet. These scratches brought the pro-class team total down to 22.

Image at the top: Team 7 leads the 2022 Iron Dog into Nome. Photo by Davis Hovey, KNOM (2022).