NOME -- Love bloomed under the finish line here Wednesday afternoon as Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race mushing couples reunited after their separate 1,000-mile journeys across Alaska.
"It's always good to see family," said Allen Moore, who arrived here with his 14-dog team at 2:56 p.m. in 32nd place. His wife, musher Aliy Zirkle, waited just beyond the burled arch. "Just like she's anticipating seeing me, it's the same thing for me seeing her."
Zirkle, of Two Rivers, crossed the finish line in third place one day earlier, at 9:42 a.m. Tuesday. She had a tough journey. A snowmachiner hit her team early Saturday and injured one of her dogs as they traveled to the Nulato checkpoint, nearly 400 miles away from here.
The paths of Moore and Zirkle never crossed after the incident until they reached Nome. Moore said he heard about what had happened to his wife along the trail, but had yet to talk to her about it. His main worry: Was she all right?
"I know she went through a traumatic experience, but we can work through that," he said. "As long as she's all right, that's the main thing."
In Nome, the couple shared a long hug, Zirkle's head burrowed into Moore's shoulder as he rubbed her back. They put their arms around each other as they walked down the line of Moore's dogs on the snowy Front Street trail.
"I wanted to see him for a few days now," Zirkle said. "I know he was trying to get here as fast as possible and he got here jeez, 24 hours quicker than we thought."
About 30 minutes earlier, another couple had reunited in the same spot. Katherine Keith came down the trail with her eight-dog team. She pumped her fist in the air, thrusting both arms up in celebration once she reached the burled arch at 2:30 p.m. in 31st place.
"I did it," she said.
Her daughter, Amelia, and her fiancé, musher John Baker, stood waiting. She gave them both big hugs. Baker, who placed 17th in this year's race, sat on the back of Keith's sled as a race official went through the checklist of the mandatory gear she had to have with her: a cooker, sleeping bag, snow shoes and more.
Keith said she loves arriving in Nome and immediately spotting Baker and her daughter.
"I get really emotional," she said.
This year's finish came with a wager for the couple. Whoever reached the finish line first got to set the date for their wedding, Keith said. Baker arrived in Nome more than 17 hours ahead of her, giving him date-setting rights.
"He's the one in charge of that now," she said with a laugh.
"I'm so happy," Baker said about seeing his fiancé. On the trail, he said, "I worry about her a lot."
There are other couples running the race, too. Four-time Iditarod champion Jeff King's girlfriend, rookie Kristin Bacon, remained on the trail early Wednesday evening. Husband-and-wife duo Cody Strathe and Paige Drobny were both on their 8-hour rest together in White Mountain.
As the week goes on, they and the rest of the mushers will continue to trickle into Nome, completing their 1,000-mile journeys across Alaska.