updated at 17:45 to reflect a new musher arrival into Candle, and correction
|
Position |
Musher | Time/Checkpoint |
| 1 | #10 Jeff King | 14:44 13 Dogs – Candle |
| 2 | #15 Lance Mackey | 15:06 13 Dogs - Candle |
| 3 | #12 Mitch Seavey | 15:30 10 Dogs – Candle |
| 4 | # 4 Jim Lanier | 16:34 13 Dogs - Candle |
| 5 | #17 Sonny Lindner | 11:52 13 dogs – Gold Run |
| 6 | #5 Ed Iten | 11:55 12 Dogs – Gold Run |
| 7 | #6 Aaron Burmeister | 14:03 11 dogs – Gold Run |
| 8 | #14 Ramy Brooks | 11:15 – Gold Run |
| 9 | #16 Cim Smyth | 13:03 11dogs – First Chance |
| 10 | #3 Fred Napoka | 13:12 10 dogs, 1 in basket - Haven |
With the top four all having reached Candle (and we can confirm that we *know* both Jeff & Lance just kept going) we’ve now reached the point of the race where mushers will start running into each other on the trail, and the official rule (that was reminded to checkers over the ham radio) is that the INCOMING musher to Nome has the right of way. I mentioned it this morning in the podcast, but can you imagine that scene when Jeff King was headed back on the trail just a few miles outside of Candle and had right of way over Lance Mackey headed to the halfway point? Talk about tense situations… this is a very close race and is running MUCH quicker than I think anyone expected.
There have been some questions about how exactly the mushers make up the time difference between themselves from when they left the starting line. In Iditarod, this is made up at the 24-hour layover checkpoint, and the earlier a musher left the starting line, the more time they have to make up in the middle of the race….. As the first to leave, Conner Thomas will have about 32 minutes to make up, and Sonny Lindner won’t have any since he was the last. Because there are no mandatory layovers in the AAS, there is one secret checkpoint where the time will be made up. The only person right now who knows where that checkpoint will be, is the Lead Judge - Al Crane. Speaking with the Race Director a few days ago, he admitted that even he had no idea where this was going to be. The only information that I can give is what I’ve heard on the public ham airwaves….and there is a small chance that it could be a clue on where the only mandatory layover will be. I heard that Judge Al Crane flew out of Nome early this afternoon to check on the trail and soon after popped up on the ham in the checkpoint of Boston. That would be over halfway on the trail, if you’re guessing….could be a good place to do a stop like this.
Stay tuned….
What about Ramy Brooks? He looks like he’s ahead of at least Cim Symth.
Left by Greg on March 27th, 2008