Iditarod: From the River to the Sea

 

Sorry in the headline triggers you, but the Iditarod race has now proceeded from Kaltag, the last checkpoint on the (Yukon) River, down toward Unalakleet on the (Bering) Sea, and this is the only coverage of the race with balls enough to use the world's most obvious metaphor to describe this stretch.

As of 7:00 am Alaska time, nine teams have left Kaltag (mile 639). With the mandatory 24-hour and Yukon 8 rests now completed, it's a flat-out race to the finish line from this point forward.

Jessie Holmes was the first through Kaltag at around 4:30 pm, pausing at the checkpoint for only 15 minutes. Paige Drobney passed through some three hours later, followed by Millie Pirsild some 2½ hours after that at about 10 pm. 

Travis Beals was the next musher to arrive at Kaltag, but instead of passing straight through like the first three racers, he took a three-hour rest there and didn't leave until 1:26 pm, after Riley Dyche and Wade Marrs had passed through. So after Holmes, Drobney, and Pirsild, the order now is Dyche (4th place), Marrs (5th), and  Beals (6th).  

Michelle Phillips arrived in Kaltag after Beals had left. She took a 4½ hour rest before leaving at 6:34 this morning. Jeff Deeter passed through the checkpoint while Phillips was resting. Matt Hall arrived after Phillips left, took a three-hour rest, and still managed to leave before another team arrived.  So the next three teams, completing the nine out of Kaltag, are Deeter (7th place), Phillips (8th), and Hall (9th).

Three teams (Ryan Redington, Lauro Eklund, and Peter Kaiser) are still in Kaltag. 

Behind the first twelve, the race is finally starting to spread out a little. There are three teams still heading to Kaltag from the previous Nulato checkpoint (mile 582), four teams back at Galena (mile 545), five teams between Ruby (mile 495) and Galena, and two teams still in Ruby. "Expedition class" racer Steve Curtis remains all the way back in McGrath (mile 311), where he's been for the last three days - I guess he likes it there (I hope he likes it there). Billionaire Kjell Rokke is all the way up to Shaktoolik (mile 754), while his "assistant," Thomas Waerner, is now behind him at Unalakleet (mile 714).

One last dash to the finish line. This is it, folks, and last year's winner, Jessie Holmes, has a three-hour lead on the pack.