Singletrack/MTB
Gravel/All-road
Dirt-road Touring
Fat-bike
Shortly after midnight, Lael Wilcox became the first woman and fifth overall rider to finish the 2025 Iditarod Trail Invitational 350, wrapping up her ride in 2 days, 11 hours, and 19 minutes. Rugile Kaladyte was again at the finish line to capture the end of her ride…
Photos by Rugile (Rue) Kaladyte
Ultra-endurance athlete Lael Wilcox needs no introduction. She has many top-place race finishes under her belt, including wins and records at the Tour Divide, Arizona Trail, Hope 1000, Unbound Gravel, Silk Road Mountain Race, Cohutta Cat, and more. Most recently, she set a new women’s record for the fastest circumnavigation of the globe after riding 18,130 miles in 108 days, 12 hours, and 12 minutes.
Although she calls Arizona home these days, Lael grew up in Alaska. Despite this, she’s still relatively new to the winter race scene. Last year, Lael tackled the Iditarod Trail Invitational 350 and was the first woman to finish with a time of 4 days and 27 minutes. Lael returned this year to take on the ITI 350 again and took full advantage of the fast conditions. For most of her ride, she and Kate Coward rode close by, trailing closely behind the lead riders. It wasn’t until around mile 190 at the Rohn checkpoint that Lael could push ahead, taking just a few hours to sleep and riding nearly non-stop to the finish in McGrath.
Until her finish, it looked like Lael would set a new women’s record on the ITI 350, but it sounds like there was a mix-up with the posted record on the ITI website, which displayed Heather Best’s 2014 record, not the updated 2015 record. Lael learned of this at the Nikolai checkpoint, just ~50 miles from the finish, and likely had to dig deep to push to the finish line without much rest. She finished just three hours behind that time in 2 days, 11 hours, and 19 minutes, becoming the first woman and fifth overall to finish the 2025 Iditarod Trail Invitational. Congrats, Lael! What an awesome ride.
It looks like Kate Coward is on the final stretch of the route and should be taking second place for the women later today. In the 1,000-mile route, Peter Delamere is currently sitting in first place and should be arriving in Nikolai with the next few hours. Troy Szczurkowski, Joshua Brown, and Tiziano Mulonia are following closely behind. Check out our event page to follow their progress live.
Further Reading
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