Alaskan Kaiser Wins 2019 Iditarod

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March 13, 2019

Pete Kaiser Peter Kaiser has won the 2019 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, crossing the finish line in Nome in a time of 9 days, 12 hours, 39 minutes, and 6 seconds. He had eight dogs on his time as the sled crossed the line.

It was Kaiser's ninth straight go at the Iditarod, having finished 28th as a rookie in 2010. His highest placing before this year was 5th place, in both 2012 and 2018. The 31-year-old Kaiser is the fifth Alaska native and the first musher of Yup'ik descent to win the race. He is from Bethel, in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta area of Alaska. An early adopter of sled dog racing, Kaiser parlayed his experience helping out in his parents' kennel into a spot in a 65-mile race when he was a senior in high school; he won.

Last year's champion, Joar Leifseth Ulsom, finished second, a time of 9 days, 12 hours, 51 minutes. Ulsom, who grew up in Norway near the Arctic Circle and trained by mushing the great races of Scandinavia, gave chase all along the way but couldn't catch Kaiser. Ulsom was 42 minutes behind coming out of White Mountain, 77 miles from the finish. He was fast but not fast enough.

Joar Leifseth Ulsom
Ulsom
Jessie Royer
Royer

In third was the first female finisher, Jessie Royer, nearly six hours later. The 17-time finisher boasts seven top-10 finishes; her highest previous placing was 4th, in 2015. She was Rookie of the Year in 2001, finishing 14th.

Nicolas Petit's dogs

Frenchman Nicolas Petit was in the lead at the halfway point. Kaiser seized the lead coming out of Shaktoolik and never looked back. Petit exited the race at that point, a victim of fighting among his dogs. Petit finished second in 2018, the victim of going off course while on sea ice.

For his win, Kaiser received a cash prize of $50,000 and a new truck.

A total of 52 teams started the race in Willow, after the traditional ceremonial start in Anchorage. Mushers followed the Southern Route this year.

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is a nearly 1,000-mile race across Alaska that is run each year in the first three months of a calendar year. The race began in 1973. Organizers had in mind a way to commemorate the 1925 Serum Run, which involved a series of dog teams transporting much-needed medicine to children in Nome.

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