Mackey holds the Lead….for now.

Jeff King is getting closer and closer to overtaking Lance Mackey and leading this year’s Iditarod as the mushers approach the coastal village of Unalakleet.  Earlier this morning Mackey made what could end up being a vital mistake and lost a few precious hours to this closest competitor.  Lance was less than an hour from Nulato and not realizing how close he was, still thinking he had a long ways to go, decided it was going to be best for him and his team to pull over for a few hours and rest.  He staying and camped for three hours before pushing along and soon realizing he was just a few miles outside of the checkpoint.  He had been planning to keep pushing on, spend a healthy 6 or 7 hours inNulato before blitzing right on through Kaltag and onto Unalakleet.  By the time he got into Nulato it was nearly 10am, and King arrived just two hours later at nearly noon.

By 4:30pm both Mushers had left Nulato and headed onto Kaltag, which is 42 miles away…Mackey was still just over an hour and a half ahead of King.  Now on the trail Jeff continues to have a little bit quicker of a team and is approaching Mackey, at this pace King *could* be the first musher into Unalakleet on Sunday afternoon or evening.