Iditarod Update

 

Jessie Holmes is still in the lead, and Paige Drobny and Matt Hall are still pursuing him at the No. 2 and 3 spots, respectively. However, Drobny and Hall are five to seven hours behind Holmes, who has yet to complete his mandatory 8-hour Yukon rest, and could catch up or even pass him by Kaltag checkpoint.

Mitch Seavey has moved up to fourth, but like Holmes has yet to take his 8-hour rest. A fully rested Mille Porsild is about an hour behind him and should be able to catch up to and pass him by Kaltag.

So that's our top five (Holmes, Drobny, Hall, Seavey, and Porsild) and the winner will likely come from that pool. All five have left Grayling checkpoint on the return leg of the Southern Trail loop and are heading back to Eagle Island before finally returning to Kaltag and fresh snow in the Bering Basin.

Eagle Island (population: 0) is not much more than a snowy patch of land and a few tents, just up a hill from the Yukon River. A 1997 musher said that “Eagle Island is so remote it’s actually beyond the edge of the planet: it’s as if you´ve gone to the edge, fallen off, and discovered that the Place Down Below really has frozen over. The local wolf packs howl all night to vent their indignation at all of their uninvited cousins intruding on their territory." So I guess we can safely rule out either Holmes or Seavey taking their 8-hour Yukon rest at the checkpoint and instead pushing on to Kaltag for their extended stop.

Emily Ford is still the lead rookie in the race and still 14th overall, but hasn't yet taken her 8-hour rest either. Although it seems her race strategy includes taking her breaks as late in the race as possible, she's been at Grayling checkpoint on her first pass for over four hours now, and it remains to be seen if she pushes on to stay within striking distance of the leaders or if she just waits another four hours to check off the mandatory rest. Meanwhile, fully rested veteran Jason Mackey is on his way to Grayling from Eagle Island and might blow right past her if she takes the full break there.

It's taken most teams about seven or eight hours to mush from Eagle Island to Grayling (Mackey is at hour seven right now), but Emily took 16 hours, indicating that she probably stopped somewhere along the way to rest on the trail. It may seem unwise to take an 8-hour break along the Yukon away from a checkpoint where you don't get credit for the rest, but it also means that her team is well rested and healthy as she reaches the halfway point of the race.

You've heard of "Monday-morning quarterbacking." I'm literally Monday-morning mushing.