As of 5:45pm AKST - The first 10 mushers have arrived into the checkpoint of Timber; here are the standings for the checkpoint:

1. Jim Lanier - 16:05 - 13 Dogs
2. Lance Mackey - 16:11 - 13 Dogs
3. Ed Iten - 16:17
4. Ramy Brooks - 16:18 - 12 Dogs
5. Hugh Neff - 16:20 - 13 Dogs
6. Mitch Seavy - 16:29 - 10 Dogs
7. Aaron Nurmiester - 16:29 - 11 Dogs
8. Sonny Linder - 16:29 - 13 Dogs
9. Jeff King - 16:38 - 13 Dogs
10. Cim Smyth - 17:23 - 11 Dogs/1 in Bag

Mushers don’t, however have to check out and so its going to be tricky to figure out what the standings are, luckily the checkpoints are all pretty close to each other, so the flow of information is pretty constant. What we do know, via the local ham operator chat, is that no mushers have been staying at Timber, they have all been heading onto Council, attempting to cover as much ground during the daylight as possible. This trail is going to start getting tricky as once the teams pass Council, they will be heading even further north, but they will also start to be on trails that are very rarely used. I was talking to a friend here in Nome and he was expressing the fact that even some of the most hardcore outdoor enthusiasts in the area don’t venture past death valley (after Telephone), even on snowmachine, and many local mushers don’t usually make it out to Council. I am getting word from the Boston Checkpoint and they are saying its beautiful out right now, even joking that as they are waiting for everyone to arrive it’s tee-shirt weather (they did also note that it was 20 below this morning!). Timber is reporting right now that it’s high overcast, with no snowfall, and a slight breeze.

There are two mushers who have left Topkok and are on their way to Timber, and a handful who are sticking around the Topkok checkpoint for a bit longer.

Posted by admin on Wednesday, March 26th, 2008 at 5:45 pm.