Matt Failor

Matthew Failor, 29, was at the fulcrum of the 2013 Iditarod as the first mushers finished at Nome, Alaska, late Tuesday night. Failor, who grew up in Ohio, was an Eagle Scout along with three brothers and learned his way around the outdoors during that period. He began learning about sled dogs and mushing while working summers at Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau.

He moved to Alaska in 2010 to accept a dog handling position with the Buser family. His boss, Martin Buser, somewhere ahead of him on the trail, asked if he would be interested in running a yearling team to Nome. Said Failor: “That is when I became interested in running the Iditarod.”

Failor arrived at White Mountain, the penultimate checkpoint, at 11 a.m. Wednesday with 10 dogs still on the run.

The winner of the Iditarod appears to be Mitch Seavey with a time of nine days, 7 hours, 39 minutes and 56 seconds. So far, the Lanterne Rouge continues to be Cindy Abbott.

We’ll update again once all finishers have crossed the line and we have a final Point d’Appui, if indeed the odd number of mushers survives to the finish.