Iditarod Update

 

Jessie Holmes is still in the lead. There's been some jockeying back and forth  between Holmes and Matt Hall, but it looks at this point like Holmes' team has the speed and stamina to take the race, although anything can still happen.

As of 6:30 am Alaska time, Holmes and Hall have left the Elim checkpoint en route to White Mountain, where they will be required to take a mandatory 8-hour rest before charging on to the finish line. Paige Drobny arrived at Elim at 4:00 am, and is still resting there. 

After White Mountain, it's only 77 miles to the finish line.

Mille Porsild has dropped behind Michelle Phillips to fifth place, and the two, along with Mitch Seavey and Ryan Redington, have crossed Norton Bay and are currently heading toward Elim. The rest of the mushers are spread out between Shaktoolik and Eagle Island, and rookie Emily Ford has fallen behind fellow rookie Samantha LaLonde and is now 17th overall. 

The Iditarod Trail Committee has forced last-place rookie mushers Quince Mountain and Sydney Bahl to drop out of the race. They were too far back, in the Committee's opinion, to credibly ever have a chance to catch the lead, and it wasn't worth the risk, again in their opinion, of pushing the dogs and continuing to keep checkpoints open just to keep them running. Rookie Justin Olnes also dropped out, not due to an ITC decision, but his own estimation of the risk/benefit of continuing.      

So the field is now down to 23 teams, but the competitive, real race for the win seems to now be between Holmes and Hall.