Good Morning Race Fans!
If you’re like me, you love the extra daylight that daylight savings time brings, but the first few days are it’s a little tough to get used to. I know I’m running a little behind.
That’s not the case this morning for Pete and the Team as they are making great time on the Iditarod trail.
At this hour Pete and the Team are taking a break near the Old Woman trail cabin on the portage to Unalakleet. Over the years strategy has changed and Unalakleet is no longer a place where many Teams take their break. Instead, they split the run from Kaltag to Shaktoolik into two longer runs and bypass the pancake extravaganza that the Unalakleet checkpoint puts on each year.
There has been a bit of jockeying between Travis Beals and Team Kaiser over the night with Travis pushing slightly ahead to take his break. The Teams seem pretty evenly matched at this point, but it is still pretty early to call.
At the front of the Race, Dallas Seavey appears to be gaining on Brent Sass with only about 13 miles between them Seavey has a faster Team and plenty of time to catch Sass at this rate, so it looks to be a great finish. As many Teams have found over the years though, anything can happen between even Safety and Nome, so all bets are off as to what Team will reach the burled arches to take the win.
Mushing weather is going to be a bit cold as Teams turn Northward. Not as bad as it has been in past years, but still it will be a bit of a slap in the face!
Unalakleet:
Today- Sunny. Highs in the mid to upper teens. Northeast winds 15 to 25 mph.
Tonight- Clear. Lows 1 below to 4 above. Northeast winds 15 to 25 mph.
It looks to be a beautiful, if a bit chillier day.
Go Team Kaiser!