To start this week off, I have two items on Alaska sports news. I’m not a sports guy, but these are not millionaires throwing a ball around; these are local people doing things they love.
First: We have an Iditarod winner, and it’s his first win in eight attempts:
Jessie Holmes raced into Nome early Friday, winning his first Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on the longest trail ever.
The 43-year-old musher and his team of 10 dogs were escorted by a convoy of police cars down Front Street in Nome. The team, led by Polar and Hercules, ran under the arch at 2:55 a.m. in temperatures hovering around zero degrees, to hundreds of cheering fans.
“It’s hard to put into words, but it’s a magical feeling,” Holmes said.
He’s been waiting for this moment for years.
“I have nothing to stop smiling about,” he said. “I have everything going for me. And, you…