Organizers were forced to reroute the race before the start because of a lack of snow. The official start moved nearly 300 miles north, from Willow to Fairbanks after the traditional ceremonial start March 1 in Anchorage. Television personality Jessie Holmes, 43, of Nenana, Alaska, won the race early Friday, finishing in 10 days, 14 hours, 55 minutes and 41 seconds.
Ford conquered the extra distance, too, running steady and in the middle of the pack most of the way as she navigated through conditions like blowing snow and a sudden silt storm.
She finished with 10 of her original 16 dogs on the gang line. They are huskies she has trained and raced all winter out of the Shameless Huskies kennel in Willow with her partner, Anna Hennessy, and two other Minnesota mushers, Olivia Frank and Skylar Whitcomb.
While impressive, Ford’s Iditarod performance didn’t surprise those who know her fearlessness and focus.
Hennessy posted Friday on Instagram after Ford left the Yukon River behind. Ford, she wrote, was “her usual calm but chipper self and our conversation was interspersed with her reassuring and talking sweetly to the dogs as they took off from the checkpoint.”
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