So, it's a wrap!  The top ten mushers have finished, and the rest of the field are at various stages of making their way to Nome. 

Congrats to Ryan Redington, 2023 Iditarod Champion, pictured at right with his lead dogs!

Here's the current situation, as seen by the flow tracker:

Following Ryan, Pete Kaiser opened up a lead on Riche Diehl for 2nd, and Matt Hall had a strong final run for 4th.  Note Jessie Holmes run - he passed Kelly Maixner at Safety to finish 5th.  Eddie Burke won the three-team race for 7th and also top rookie, outmushing Matthew Failor and Mille Porsild (who was top female musher).  Wade Mars continued his late sprint to beat Hunter Keefe for 10th.  The psychology for the remaining teams is interesting; with the top ten already in, many are taking long rests.  At this point it's more about finishing strong than finishing fast.

At the other end of the field sadly Eric Kelly scratched at Shaktoolik, leaving a big group there "competing" for the Red Lantern.  It might be a few more days before they make it to Nome.  I'll leave the tracker running and you can check in on their progress.

With this post I'll end the 2023 Iditarod saga; here's an index of all my posts:

2/27	9:46PM	warming up for the Iditarod
3/4	10:19PM	Iditarod start
3/6	2:06PM	Iditarod day one
3/7	8:21AM	Iditarod day two
3/8	11:09AM	Iditarod day three (a day off)
3/9	9:17PM	Iditarod day four (and they're off)
3/10	10:34PM	Iditarod day five (along the Yukon)
3/11	12:42PM	Iditarod day six (anyone's race but Brent)
3/12	9:26PM	Iditarod day seven (across the ice)
3/13	10:30AM	Iditarod day eight (the turning point)
	5:08PM	Iditarod day eight, too (everyone everywhere)
3/14	10:54AM	Iditarod day nine (heading Nome!)
3/15	10:47AM	Iditarod 2023 wrap

Just wanted to note an interesting story in GQ (!) about Dallas Seavey: The Saga of the World’s Greatest Dogsledder - and the Fight Over the Future of the Iditarod.  The absence of Dallas and many other top mushers certainly hung over the Iditarod this year.  Taking nothing away from Ryan - he beat Peter Kaiser, a former champion - the field was definitely much reduced this year, and sparked conversations about whether the race will continue in its current form.

Finally wanted to close with this pic, which captures the spirit of the race:

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