Ahhh, that lovely Tracker! What would we do without it? In the olden days of dogsled racing, the race happened and then we read about it. Now it’s a completely different matter. Refresh- Refresh- Refresh!!
As Pete and Richie draw their day to a close, it surely was a beautiful day for mushing! Warm temperatures, clear skies, and the sound of the Team making their way through the woods and taiga of Interior Alaska.
At the front of the Pack, things are heating up and the fog the field will clear to show who the leaders are for this year’s running of the Iditarod.
At this hour Wade Marrs, Dallas Seavey, Joar Leifseth Ulsom, and Mitch Seavey are leading the mushers, but none of those Teams have taken their 8 hour layover. At this point in the race, the 8 hour layover is really a 4 hour advantage as Teams will take the extra 4 hours of a planned 4 hour rest in a checkpoint to make up the 8 hour rest period. So a 4 hour advantage lies to those who have taken an 8 hour layover. In this case, this means Nicolas Petit, who is finishing his 24 in Huslia, is 4 hours closer to those in front of him. When he leaves Huslia, will still be behind Wade Marrs by about 4 hours.
Now there is quite a bit of mushing to go and many, many rest periods that Teams will have to take, so the fog of this section of the race will be with us at least until Unalakleet.
Pete and Richie are just out of the front pack, but not by much and are in great position to strike, as they usually do, when headed up the coast. They just need to stay close enough to the front runners that when (And they always do) they make a mistake, Pete and Richie are their to take advantage.
I Love Iditarod, and soon there will be little sleep to be had as we watch this all play out.
GO Team Kaiser!
