Winners of $222,101 Nenana Ice Classic jackpot announced

NENANA, Alaska (KTUU) – The jackpot for this year’s Nenana Ice Classic will be split by the holders of 10 lucky tickets.

All 10 winners correctly guessed that the tripod would trigger the clock to stop at 4:01 p.m. on May 8. They will be splitting a pot of $222,101 — the equivalent of just over 67 of last year’s Permanent Fund dividend checks, 2,914 barrels of North Slope crude, or 10 brand new fully-loaded snowmachines.

With 10 winners dividing the pot, each winning ticket will take home $22,210.10 — just enough for that brand new snowmachine and a full tank of gas.

The winners listed on the Nenana Ice Classic’s website are Kathryn Wilson, Jim Hightower Pool, Georgiana Gooch, Kristina Mee, Brian Ahrens, Michelle Rountree, Jeanine Lillo, Lou Kuchenoff, Cold Calculators 2023, and Cecelia. It appears that some of the winning tickets belong to groups — Jim Hightower Pool and Cold Calculators 2023 — who will likely divide winnings between group members.

The geographic distribution of the winners speaks to the long-running contest’s broad appeal to Alaskans. Winners this year hail from Anchorage, Sand Point in the Aleutian Islands, Wasilla, Palmer, Eagle River, Fairbanks and North Pole.

Tickets for the Nenana Ice Classic are sold for $3 each at locations across the state from February until the first week of April. Last year’s contest jackpot was slightly larger at $242,923 and attracted the attention of late-night show host John Oliver, who featured the Nenana Ice Classic on his show and even placed his own entry. Oliver initially promised his winnings to the Food Bank of Alaska, but did donate $10,000 to the organization after failing to predict the correct time.

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