Lot’s of fun stories and good dancing! So many gifts this year for mushers and kids alike!

And Jennifer is in Kotzebue! Woo! Next up: Finishers banquet!

On the flip side of things, mushers will have a meeting tonight and then the banquet will start at 6pm! So full lunch break chaos is in swing for banquet preparation! We are so excited to hear the stories and see the awards! *cake made by a 10yo for the dessert contest

Jennifer is about an hour out from the finish line! Woo!!

Eighth place finisher: Virág Rácz!

I can’t remember if I shared this before…but I would just like to reflect on how Virág is the most time disciplined individual I’ve ever seen! Haha I noticed her Noorvik rest was EXACTLY 4 hours and wondered if it was a fluke…then Selawik was 4 hours…Kobuk was 3hours, Ambler 2 was 4 hours HOW? 😂🙈

Watching Jennifer coming in! I was selfishly hopeful she’d be in over my lunch break, but only time will tell! I haven’t missed a musher yet this year and that would be a record for me to get 100% of finishes! Silly day jobs…

Seventh place finisher: Annette Llanes

Sixth place finisher: Sam McLain

Fifth place finisher: Larry Daugherty

Happy Easter Sunday to those who celebrate! Just yesterday, Ambler hosted mushers in their new tribe building. Today, it’s Easter! Including converting our race officials to Easter bunnies 😂

Annette is approaching Kotzebue!! Woo!!

Fourth place finisher: Kristy Berington

Third place finisher: Calvin Daugherty

Delayed information coming your way but friends the day was BEAUTIFUL and the mushers kept coming! In the words of a 13yo “this kind of feels like summer”

So may ins and outs and cheering on mushers today!! Last day of the sprint races and a ton of K440 finishers! Beautiful weather and great company!! Will sit down with tech on the next big break…probably! (Hard to be inside when it is arctic spring!)

Get out to the ice Kotz! Kristy is at the point of the race where the tracker is gonna jump and she’s practically here! Getting to Devil’s Lake as we speak! Larry is close behind! And Sam should be in shortly after him! Come out, enjoy the gorgeous sunshiny warm weather, and cheer them all on!

Someone went and scooped out Calvin’s location estimating his arrival at 12:30 give or take!!! Eagerly awaiting him at the finish!

Teams approaching Kiana Annette is 3.4 miles out (8 minutes ago)! Virág is 21.5 miles out! Jennifer is 42.6 out! All en route!! Welcome back mushers!! We are so excited to see you all!

Calvin should be the next musher in but not far behind are Larry, Kristy, and Sam. Kristy has been traveling faster legs and keeping a higher moving speed on average than Larry. He left 14 minutes before Kristy but Kristy ran Kiana-noorvik 24 minutes faster than Larry. It is gonna be close!!!

Here is your 2026 #Kobuk440 champion Jessie Holmes on his stop in Noorvik! #MusherSky @kobuk440.bsky.social youtu.be/6cpW3LcdJzo?...

Finish line updates (a thread of screenshots)

Calvin Daugherty’s tracker isn’t working. He was in and out of Noorvik at 6:19am and is now headed to Kotzebue! It’ll be a rush to the finish once we know he’s nearby, keep your eyes peeled and we’ll try and update everyone to get out and cheer him on! He’s currently expected around the noon hour.

Second place finisher: Kevin Hansen!

First place finisher: Jessie Holmes!

What a beautiful morning for a #K440 finish!

Get on down to the ice!!! Finishers soon! (Live stream on Facebook)

Calling all Kotzebue fans!! Jessie and Kevin are both back on the peninsula! You’ve got roughly an hour to grab some coffee and meet them on the ice as they start coming in! Give or take 15 minutes. Keep your eyes on the tracker!

I know tracker updates will have Jessie jumping forward again, but this is still super exciting!! What a close race! Reminds me of when Richie Diehl came around the corner and finished in 2nd by 2 minutes!

Pre-nap statuses!! Jessie and Kevin have around 5-5.5hours until the finish (pending everything keeps on the same). Calvin should be out of Kiana soon! (Unsure exactly due to the leaderboard not having his info yet.) 3rd seems pretty likely for him!

Jessie’s into Noorvik, next stop, Kotzebue!

Virág and Annette are neck and neck heading to Kiana (or the shelter cabin) Larry, Kristy, and Sam are also running a close race at similar speeds on their final push to Kiana! Kiana is going to being seeing a lot of traffic for the next 12 hours!

Jennifer has arrived in Ambler on her second pass! Yay!! So exciting to have the upper kobuk loop finished! Prepare to be spoiled and enjoy your time eating and resting at a fantastic checkpoint! 💕

And Jessie is out of Kiana!! We’ll wait for the leaderboard to be officially updated, but it should be with his rest completed exactly to 20h!!

As it stands here is the remaining rest required for mushers that have left Ambler on their way downriver: Jessie - 5h02m Kevin - 4h12m Calvin - 4h37m Larry - 3h42m Sam - 2h42m Kristy - 2h49m Virág - 0m Mushers are listed in the order they left Ambler. www.kobuk440.com/leaderboard.html

Kevin Hansen pulling into Kiana -From Facebook comment made by Tessa Cyrus

Jessie Holmes - first musher into Kiana received a wolf ruff!

Kiana - get ready to welcome Jessie!!

Larry, Sam, and Kristy are grouped together on their journey to Kiana! Should be a fun race!

Jennifer is into Ambler resting!! Most teams have completed the loop and are resting for what comes next!

Good morning fans! This is where the race becomes a little more strategic! After Ambler’s 2nd pass, you can see the cumulative rest teams have more easily (on the leaderboard). Kevin is about an hour behind Jessie but he has 50 minutes more official rest time.

If you use Instagram, check out @kobuk440’s story!! Social media crew is posting pieces from around Ambler! If I can figure out how to snatch some videos (or if they send me any directly) I’ll get them to you!

6 mushers in the loop! Jennifer making her way up to Ambler! And Virág and Annette hanging out in Ambler hopefully enjoying Lolo’s amazing food!

Kobuk update (a thread)

Shungnak Update (a thread)

Trackers always get a little weird on the loop!! Where is Calvin headed? Has he been to kobuk? What happened to Kevin? What did I miss or is it the trackybois?!

Anybody else just want to get out and play with your dogs while watching the trackers? Playing was done! A short 3 mile jaunt…now a good 18 hour rest period and hopefully some more good weather and outdoor fun tomorrow! Happy Arctic Spring Festival! #couchmushing #fomo

Once teams start the kobuk loop, things always get interesting! There is so much coming and going and the occasional ground storm or blizzard! Still plenty of daylight for the front of the pack!

Ambler 1st Pass update (a thread) Mushers are listed by arrival into the checkpoint.

Larry has joined the crew into Ambler! Looks like Virág and Annette are on the move and Jennifer is chilling at the shelter cabin with the sweeper crew (the fun filled crew that let me tag along last year)!