Mushers scratch at Rainy Pass

The first four mushers have scratched today from this year’s Iditarod.

According to Iditarod Race Headquarters, #30 Michael Suprenant, #5 Zoya DeNure, and #23 Karin Hendrickson all scratched at the Rainy Pass checkpoint as of late Tuesday morning. Michael Suprenant scratched at 10:00am Tuesday with 16 dogs and DeNure officially scratched at 10:15am with 15 dogs. Both mushers, according to Iditarod HQ, left this year’s race for “medical reasons.”

Karin Hendrickson scratched at 11:15am with 16 dogs – race headquarters cited “a damaged sled and equipment problems” as the reasons for Hendrickson leaving the race.

#34 Kirk Barnum scratched at 11:20am with 12 dogs. Barnum said he scratched “in the best interest of his team, it was evident that they were tired.” He had dropped 4 since the start of the race.

There are first-hand reports that #17 Pat Moon crashed into a tree outside of Rohn, but that has yet to be confirmed by Race Headquarters.

Update: As of Tuesday evening it has been confirmed by Iditarod HQ that Pat Moon, a rookie from Chicago crashed and was found unconscious by musher Sam Deltour in the Dalzell Gorge. He woke shortly after being found and was transported to Anchorage. Pat’s team is in good condition and in Rohn awaiting transportation back to Anchorage.