Former reality TV star Jessie Holmes wins longest-ever Iditarod - ESPN

NOME, Alaska — Jessie Holmes, a former reality television star, won the longest-ever Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Friday.

Holmes was first to the finish line in the Gold Rush town of Nome on the Bering Sea coast. The race began March 3 in Fairbanks after a lack of snow forced changes to the route and starting point.

That made the normally 1,000-mile race a staggering 1,129 miles across the Alaska wilderness. Holmes finished in 10 days, 14 hours, 55 minutes, 41 seconds.

«It's hard to put into words, but it's a magical feeling,» Holmes said shortly after crossing the finish line. «It's not about this moment now. It's about all those moments along the trail.»

Holmes, who was competing for the eighth time, previously finished in the top 10 five times, including third last year and in 2022. In his first Iditarod, in 2018, his seventh-place finish earned him Rookie of the Year honors.

Born and raised in Alabama, Holmes left at age 18 and worked as a carpenter in Montana for three years. He arrived in Alaska in 2004 and found adventure running dogs on a remote location of the Yukon River.

«It's been a truly amazing 10 days, and I soaked in every part of it — the lows, the highs, the in-betweens,» Holmes said. «I'm really proud of these dogs, and I love them. And they did it. They deserve all the credit.»

Holmes now lives in Nenana, where he works as a carpenter and lives a subsistence lifestyle. From 2015 through 2023, he was a cast member of «Life Below Zero,» a National Geographic program that documents the struggles of Alaskans living in remote parts of the state.

Besides the lack of snow north of the Alaska Range that forced the change of starting point to Fairbanks, race organizers also had to make changes to the