Jessie Holmes says his dogs deserve all the credit for his 'magical' first Iditarod win

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Bundled-up well wishers lined a street along the Bering Sea coastline in the early morning darkness Friday, cheering musher Jessie Holmes as he won Alaska's Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Holmes pumped his fist as he ran alongside his sled with a headlamp beaming from his forehead, as he and his 10-dog team finished the 1,128-mile (1,815-kilometer) race across the Alaska wilderness in the Gold Rush town of Nome. The distance for this year's running was the longest in the Iditarod's 53-year history.

He said his win felt “magical” and he gave credit — and hugs — to his dogs, whom he described as family.

Holmes lives in the Interior Alaska community of Nenana, about 300 miles (480 kilometers) north of Anchorage, where he is a carpenter and lives a subsistence lifestyle. He found reality TV fame as a yearslong cast member of “Life Below Zero,” a National Geographic program that documents the struggles of people living in remote parts of Alaska.

Originally from Alabama, Holmes has lived since 2004 in Alaska, where he found a passion for the wilderness and competing in sled dog races.

This year was Holmes’ eighth Iditarod, and he has now finished in the top 10 six times, including third last year and in 2022. In 2018, his first Iditarod, he won Rookie of the Year honors with his seventh-place finish.

His win this year comes on the heels of adversity. He was helping repair buildings in the remote community of Golovin after the region was walloped by the remnants of Typhoon Merbok in 2022 when part of a house fell on him. He suffered several broken ribs and a broken wrist and was forced to train that winter with one arm, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

Holmes said he bred the 10 dogs that took him to victory, adding that he had held each of them in his hands as puppies.

“I’m really proud of these dogs and I love them. And they did it. They deserve all the credit,” he said.

He lavished particular praise on his lead dogs, Hercules and Polar, who were adorned at the finish with floral wreaths.

“These are the best in the world, right here,” he said, smiling, his arms draped around them.

A lack of snow this year forced changes to the route and starting point of what is typically a 1,000-mile (1,609-kilometer) race.

There are checkpoints along the route for rest or refueling. Mushers feed their dogs and put out straw for them to lay down, and catch some sleep themselves if they can. Mushers' sleds must be able to carry and provide cover to injured or tired dogs, in addition to equipment and food. They must carry adequate emergency food for their dogs when leaving a checkpoint, as well as routine meals and snacks.

The temperature in Nome when Holmes finished was -6 degrees Fahrenheit (-21 Celsius). He crossed the finish line after 10 days, 14 hours, 55 minutes and 41 seconds of racing. He came in about three hours ahead of the second place finisher, Matt Hall. Paige Drobny finished third.

“I'll tell you one thing: I damn sure ain't tired,” Holmes said to a chorus of cheering fans. “It's hard to put into words, but it's a magical feeling, and it's not about this moment now. It's about all those moments along the trail.”

He described witnessing a beautiful sunset, the moon shimmering on the snow and the northern lights, and said he had time to ponder his mentors and race winners who had died, “looking down on me and telling me I could do it. I just wanted to join that club with them. I've wanted that for a long time.”

Holmes is taking home $57,200 for his victory, in addition to awards including $4,500 worth of gold nuggets and 25 pounds of fresh salmon for finishing first in earlier stages.

He described the race as “10 quality days. I got my money’s worth.”

Jessie Holmes mushes down Front Street on his way to winning the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race early Friday morning, March 14, 2025 in Nome. (Loren Holme/Anchorage Daily News via AP)

FILE - Jessie Holmes (15), of Alabama, mushes down Fourth Street during the Ceremonial Start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Anchorage, Alaska., Saturday, March 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Amanda Loman, File)

Jessie Holmes hugs his lead dogs Polar, left, and Hercules after winning the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race early Friday morning, March 14, 2025 in Nome. (Loren Holme/Anchorage Daily News via AP)

Jessie Holmes celebrates after winning the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race early Friday morning, March 14, 2025 in Nome. (Loren Holme/Anchorage Daily News via AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — Ryan Weathers was steamed when he found out he was joining the New York Yankees.

“I had had just finished up my bullpen and I get back to the house — I have like a little travel sauna,” he recalled Thursday. “I literally probably had sat on my couch for about two seconds and I got a phone call from Peter Bendix that I had been traded.”

Bendix, Miami's president of baseball operations, sent the 26-year-old left-hander to New York for four prospects on Tuesday: outfielders Brendan Jones and Dillon Lewis, and infielders Dylan Jasso and Juan Matheus.

Weathers is the son of David Weathers, a pitcher who helped the Yankees win the 1996 World Series after he was acquired from the Marlins at the trade deadline.

“We’ve kind of had a weird, similar paths as to how we got to New York,” Ryan Weathers said.

David was in the Dodger Stadium bullpen when he found out two minutes before the trade deadline he had been dealt to the Yankees. Manager Rene Lachemann called him on the bullpen phone and said Weathers needed to speak with general manager Dave Dombrowski.

“I went in the locker room and Kevin Brown, Al Leiter, John Burkett, Robb Nen, they said, `Hey man, good luck. You're going to win a World Series ring,' and they turned out to be prophetic,” David Weathers said.

David learned his son had been traded while watching a basketball game with wife Kelli at Loretto High School in Loretto, Tennessee, where he has coached baseball.

“One of my friends came up and said, `I think Ryan’s been traded to the Yankees.' And I said: `Well, if he has, I hadn’t heard anything about it,'" David recalled. "We laughed, and about that time my phone started ringing. It was Ryan.”

When Ryan makes his Yankees debut, they will become the fifth father-son duo for the pinstripes, joining Yogi and Dale Berra, Clay and Cody Bellinger, Mark Leiter and Mark Leiter Jr., and Ron Davis and Ike Davis.

Ryan was in shock when he spoke with Yankees general manager Brian Cashman and manager Aaron Boone.

“I just couldn’t believe that the New York Yankees were a team that I could ever have a chance to play for," he said.

New York’s rotation at the season's start projects to also include Max Fried, Cam Schlittler, Will Warren and Luis Gil while Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón rehab from injuries.

Weathers, 26, was 2-2 with a 3.99 ERA in eight starts last year in his second straight injury-shortened season. He missed time with a strained left flexor, made his season debut on May 14, then didn’t pitch for Miami between June 7 and Sept. 11 because of a left lat strain.

He was 5-6 with a 3.63 ERA over 16 starts in 2024, when he was sidelined by a strained left index finger.

“This is the best I’ve probably felt in a year-and-a-half,” Weathers said. “I really did a dive and worked with company on figuring out how to lengthen my lat out, lengthen my back out. We really adjusted a lot of my lifting patterns. We really adjusted my mobility and my prep work, and I think my arm is reaping the benefits right now.”

Ryan grew up in big league clubhouses and remembered the Cincinnati Reds' room with Ken Griffey Jr. and Joey Votto. He played pickle with Dusty Baker, Ramón Hernández, Eric Milton and Juan Castro.

“There’s been a lot of hours put in the Cincinnati Reds' batting cages,” Weathers said. “I just remember Pops taking me to the field every day. I know when his arm was hurting, he’d still throw me BP.”

Ryan was the seventh overall pick by San Diego in the 2008 amateur draft and made his first big league appearance against the Dodgers in the 2020 NL Division Series — among only six players to make a major league debut in the postseason. His dad's knowledge helped him during tough times.

“When I first started going through it and getting adversity and getting traded, he really helped me along those lines of figuring out: This is what you do with your new team. This was what you do in your day-to-day,” Ryan said. “So I’ve been doing mechanics since I was age 10.”

He has remained close with pitcher Aaron Harang, a teammate of his father who last played in 2015.

“He still texts me all the time,” Weathers said. “When I was younger, I didn’t really care about pitching. I just wanted to hit bombs in the outfield, so I didn’t really think about it.”

For David, pitching in the World Series was less nerve-racking than being in the seats at Ryan's games.

“It’s way tougher being a dad and watching your son pitch than being a pitcher,” David said. “When he pitches, man, it is just like all day, it’s like I’m pitching. I’m thinking about what I would do, how I would attack these guys.”

Notes: New York finalized its $2 million, one-year contract with right-hander Paul Blackburn.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

FILE - Miami Marlins starting pitcher Ryan Weathers throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Sept. 24, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson, File)