What a day for race fans! Most in Alaska woke up to news that Aliy Zirkle had to scratch in her final Iditarod - the first time the 2000 Yukon Quest Champion has ever scratched from an Iditarod. Zirkle sustained a concussion and "orthopedic injury to the upper torso" (preliminary reports said collarbone, while others say dislocated shoulder, there's no official word at this time from Aliy's camp) during her run through the Gorge and into Rohn. She was looked over by officials and medical and it was determined she could not continue. This is a devastating end to her final Iditarod and I cannot say enough how much I wish her well.
Teams continued to move through the Burn into Nikolai throughout the morning. The front runners all noting that they weren't really looking forward to returning to this portion of the trail on the return trip. Martin Buser told Insider in an interview in Nikolai that he tried to "turn back the clock" and relive his championship days, but now his dogs are running at about 60% and he is "perplexed" as to why, so he is giving them extra rest and regrouping.
Dallas Seavey rested before coming into Nikolai, choosing to blow through the checkpoint and run straight to McGrath where it's believed he will take his mandatory 24+time differential rest. Brent Sass also blew through Nikolai but camped out shortly after leaving that checkpoint. Sass was 2.5 hours behind Dallas coming into McGrath but again chose to leave the checkpoint and is currently camped out on the trail.
Ahead of Sass into McGrath were Pete Kaiser, Richie Diehl, and Joar Ulsom - all coming in just minutes apart. of the top five, Pete had the fastest run over from Nikolai.
The next couple of days is all about getting on those mandatory rests in, so expect for a little bit of leap frogging and then very little movement from the top teams. Now is a good time to get your naps in, or actually do some work in the office. But have fun still watching them move.
(Oh and as I finish this up Bruce Lee just said on the Live Feed that Aliy mushed FIVE MILES WITH HER INJURIES to get to the checkpoint. OH MY WORD. If ever you needed proof that Aliy is not only the real deal but super human... Captain Marvel ain't got nothin' on Aliy.)
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