Norwegian wins the 46th Iditarod in Alaska

By Zachariah Hughes - Alaska Public Radio Network

Joar Leifseth Ulsom crossed under Nome’s burled arch at 3:01am with eight dogs.

Ulsom was in a tight three-way race with veteran champion Mitch Seavey and Nicolas Petit  for days. On Monday morning, Petit deviated from the trail during a ground-storm on the run from Shaktoolik to Koyuk, giving Ulsom a window to overtake him at the front of the pack.

The 31-year-old Norwegian from Mo i Rana has lived and raced in Alaska since 2011. In his five previous Iditarods, Ulsom never placed lower than seventh.

At a run time of nine days and 13 hours, this was one of the longer Iditarods in recent years. The last time a leader took more than 9 days to reach Nome was 2013 along the same southern route. Since 2012, Mitch Seavey and his son Dallas have traded off victories. The last time a foreign-born musher won the race it was Robert Sørlie, of Hurdal, Norway, in 2005.

This story is posted on Independent Barents Observer as part of Eye on the Arctic, a collaborative partnership between public and private circumpolar media organizations.