Photo courtesy of Jessie Holmes

Jessie Holmes was born and raised in Alabama and came to Alaska in 2004. Soon after, he began running dogs on the Yukon River, using a dog team to haul wood, hunt, trap, fish, and haul water. His love for the wilderness and dogs eventually led him to compete in numerous sprint and distance races. He has run the Kobuk 440 seven times and won in 2017, 2023, and 2024. He placed top 5 in the Iditarod 2022-2025 and is the 2025 Iditarod champion! He also placed first in the 2025 Copper Basin 300. In this year's race he looks forward to seeing friends And making new friends in the wonderful communities while traveling through the incredible landscape! He will be running a younger less developed team that is a combination of my youngest dogs and Raymond Alexis team that he just bought back. His key dogs for this year’s race are Zeus, Titan, Scotty and Apollo. Holmes is sponsored by Simard Automotive Canalena Dog wear Roberta Chase and Trish Mercer and would like to express his thanks to handlers Brian and Jasper.