27-year-old from Nenana musher Bailey Vitello was the first to reach the half way checkpoint in the Nome Kennel Club’s inaugural Nome-Golovin 200 Sled Dog Race.
Just a week before, Vitello finished 17th in the 2026 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Vitello and his 12 dogs made it to Golovin, the race's official checkpoint, at 2:40 a.m. Friday after running the 100 miles from Nome. Vitello rested for eight hours in Golovin, which counted towards the race's mandatory 12 hour rest time, before turning around and heading back to Nome at 10:40 a.m.
Fairbanks musher Annette Llanes arrived in Golovin nearly three hours behind Vitello at 5:20 a.m, after taking a three hour rest at the official checkpoint at Topkok last night. Llanes took a six hour mandatory break in Golovin before departing at 12:02 p.m. She left Golovin one hour and 22 minutes after Vitello, but the racers are within 20 minutes of each other when factoring in mandatory rest time.
Nome musher Sarah Richards was third into the Golovin checkpoint at 6:52 a.m., over an hour and a half after Llanes. Llanes also took a three hour rest in Topkok and after just over 6 hours of rest in Golovin, was back on the trail at 1:00 p.m.
Musher Jennifer Nelson of Two Rivers was fourth to arrive into Golovin at 7:19 a.m., followed by Garrick Fuller of Nome at 7:53 a.m. Nome musher Diana Haecker arrived next at 9:15 a.m. and the race's seventh and final team, Burr Lemaire from Nome, was still on the trail to Golovin as of 1:00 p.m. Friday.
About the race
This is the first year the Nome Kennel Club has hosted a Nome-Golovin race, which also counts as an Iditarod qualifier. The club is considered the oldest dog mushing organization in the world.
Nome Kennel Club president and Nome-Golovin race marshal, Aaron Burmeister, said he hopes this is the first of many Nome-Golovin races.
“It's something we want to grow with years to come,” Burmeister said. “The Iditarod will encourage some of the Iditarod teams in the future to stay, and it's something that we hope will be on the calendar, and people will plan for next year.”
Burmeister said the number of local mushers has dropped significantly, partly because of the expenses associated with the sport. He said growing up, his family fed their sled dogs subsistence foods like salmon, but with low runs in recent years, that diet is less reliable.
“There's a lot of people interested, but keeping a dog team is expensive, especially in a bush community, everything has to be flown in,” Burmeister said.
He added that with more local races with sizable purses, the Nome Kennel Club is hoping to reinvigorate local participation in the sport.
“The goal is to grow that again and go from the five or six teams we have in the Nome area today to hopefully 10 or 15 teams again in the future, and continue to support, you know, the lifestyle,” Burmeister said.
This year's purse is $20,000 and will pay out the top nine finishers, which means each participant in this year's race will collect a portion of the purse. The first place team is expected at the finish line as early as Friday evening.
