All mushers in the 2019 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race had arrived in Nome by early this week. Rookie musher Victoria Hardwick pulled under the Burled Arch on Front Street at 1:51pm Monday afternoon with 9 dogs, finishing the 1,000-mile race in last place in 14 days, 22 hours, 51 minutes, and 49 seconds.
As was pointed out at this year’s banquet in Nome, the finishes of Iditarod 2019 ended as they began: with a musher from Bethel (where both Hardwick and champion Pete Kaiser live).
As a final look back at this year’s Last Great Race, here are a post-race interview with Pete Kaiser and finish-line interviews from the middle and back of the pack that wound up on the “cutting room floor.”
Pete Kaiser at KNOM
Lance Mackey
Martin Apayauq Reitan
Victoria Hardwick, Red Lantern
Image at top: Martin Apayauq Reitan mushes along Nome’s Front Street just minutes before his finish in Iditarod 2019. Photo: David Dodman, used with permission.