A break in cutoffs... for now

Our friends were faced with impending deadlines for cut-offs the last couple of days, first Puntilla on Friday by 2pm, and then arriving in Rohn yesterday by 2pm AKT. The next cut off for our friends out on the trail isn’t until March 5th at 2pm - they’ve got to arrive in McGrath by that time. You could argue that being worry-free about these deadlines could be a relief for a couple of days, but I personally stress out about the time in between. Am I traveling quickly enough? Will I make it in time? The daily cut-offs are good to keep you on track. With a few nights now before the next crunch, athletes need to self-manage their schedules and make sure they’re moving accordingly. Looking at the dots on trackleaders, it seems as though our friends will be able to keep moving on schedule to arrive on time in a few more days. We’re confident in their abilities!

Gavan Hennigan, racing on foot, is making his second trip on the 1000 mile trek to Nome. In 2020 he finished in McGrath and last year he made his first trip to Nome. When he isn’t on the Iditarod trail or racing other ultras, he spends months of the year living in a saturation diving chamber and working subsea. The 2024 1000 mile men’s foot champion, he made last year’s finish in 24 days, 18 hours, and 9 minutes. When asked what his goals were this year, he stated that he wants to make it faster than last year. He also stated that he’d rather see a wolf than a moose while on trail and 10 miles outside of Nikolai, he did just that. Gavan was able to catch a video of a gray wolf in the dark at 3am, and it curiously followed him for a little while. Leading the way for the men’s foot race, we’re hoping that Gavan still has all of his toenails despite trying to lose them before ITI this year. After a quick stop in McGrath, he hit the trail before dawn to continue towards his goal.

Jessie Gladish, the second female skier to finish the 350 mile distance, came in at 6 days, 12 hours, and 30 minutes, solidifying her induction into the Triple Threat Club! (Finishing ITI in all three disciplines: bike, ski, and foot!) Lars Danner was the first to be inducted into this incredible group in 2020 for the 350-mile ITI, and our very own WWW Amber Bethe was inducted in 2022! Gavin Woody joined the ranks in 2023, and now in 2025 we’ve just seen the second woman ever, Jessie Gladish, finish on skis in a low snow, and a difficult year packed with fu$%ing tussocks! Congratulations, Jessie, we can’t wait to hear your stories of the trail! It’s such a cool thing to see that out of the four people who have been inducted into this amazing club, 50% of them are women. Out on the trail in the wild, it comes down to grit, determination, and perseverance, and we are so stoked to see Jessie join the ranks this year.

In the women’s 1000 mile race, we have Janice Tower leading the way towards Cripple with Julie Perilla Garcia not far behind. Typically, racer’s drop bags are left at the Iditarod sled dog checkpoint in Cripple, but due to this year’s re-route the dogs are racing from Fairbanks north of their typical route, re-connecting on the northern route in Ruby. In a year where our athletes were hoping to traverse the southern route, the tough decision was made to stick to the more popular northern route due to the sled dog reroute and the lack of snow along the southern route. For the ITI human-powered athletes, Ruby is mile 495 on the trail to Nome. For the dogs, Ruby will be mile 319 of their 1,100 mile route - 100 miles longer than typical due to the re-route.

The Cripple checkpoint is roughly 70 miles south of Ruby, where the dogs usually pass through, (but won’t this year) - meaning that drop bags are left somewhere along the trail…but we’re not quite sure where! We’re seeing people continue past the regular Cripple turn, meaning the bags must be dropped along the trail somewhere. Watching dots is always such a speculatory event! Stay tuned to hear if we ever find out what our friends are coming across out there!

Talking about speculation, we did see that Gaizka Aseguinolaza in the 1000 mile bike spent nearly 36-hours at the Carlson Crossing Cabin (labeled as Collins Crossing on Trackleaders) before turning around and making his way back to McGrath. He seems to be making decent speed retracing his steps back on the course, though we did receive confirmation that he is scratching from this year’s event. We’re happy to see him making good time back to McGrath and don’t have any reason to worry about his well-being. One of the most important aspects of doing an event of this caliber is the ability to self-extract if needed. Lessons are learned in scenarios like this and we’re proud of Gaizka for taking care of himself out there!

Returning to talk about snow cover in Alaska, there is a weather advisory for Ophir calling for mixed precipitation and blowing snow. They’re calling for 3 to 5 inches and ice accumulations with poor visibility along the Lower Yukon River, the Yukon Valley, and along the Innoko Valley. Our friends may see up to 30 mph wind gusts through the night and tomorrow, with more mixed precipitation tomorrow. This weather advisory extends up to Ruby, but luckily does not go as far south as McGrath. This should make for an interesting next couple of days for our athletes racing ITI.

This evening we see about 9 of our athletes making their way to McGrath from Nikolai, choosing either the overland or river routes. We heard that the overland route was in decent shape, and it appears that WWW Kari Gibbons had heard the news as well, moving steadily towards mancakes and a nice rest off of the river. Kari had a tough, hard stretch moving across those tussocks but claimed, “Never miss leg day!” and seemed to be in great spirits when Amber met her in Nikolai! She looked bright, and although she planned to leave earlier in the day today we believe she got some Zz’s before heading back out on the trail!

Magdalena Paschke from Germany is another athlete heading towards McGrath after leaving the snack haven of Nikolai, having set her sights on Nome this year. Our favorite 10-year anniversary party animals, Jan and Petra Francke, are about to get to Nikolai for their choice of salmon, veggie, or beef patties. Humorously, there seems to only be one toilet at the checkpoint in Nikolai and the volunteers have placed a sign on the toilet so all athletes know so! The little comforts in an endeavor such as this are always good for a laugh, we’re sure the comedic relief of a sign like that helps to keep racers chuckling despite whatever ailments they may be feeling after more than a week on the trail.

Alexandria Manley, in the 350 bike, is also steadily cruising towards Nikolai, we expect her to also arrive there this evening. Not far behind, Stacy Fisk and Melanie Vriesman are on foot, steadily traversing and we imagine they may rest before getting to Nikolai. It appears that a handful of 1000 mile foot racers are taking a break at the Bear Creek cabin before moving on, with Sarah Hurkett and Jim Wilson less than 45 miles from Nikolai as well. Stay warm out there, friends, and we’ll be watching your dots!