33 Iditarod Sled Dog Race Mushers to Trek Across Alaska

The lead dogs for musher Bailey Vitello of Milan, New Hampshire, run down Fourth Avenue during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race's ceremonial start in downtown Anchorage, Alaska, on March 4, 2023. Mark Thiessen/AP Photo

WILLOW, Alaska—The race to Nome began Sunday for 33 mushers in this year’s Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Alaska.

Jessie Holmes. an Alabama native living in the Alaska community of Brushkana, was the first musher to leave across a frozen lake about 70 miles north of Anchorage. Holmes works as a carpenter and appears on the reality television show “Life Below Zero.”