Dallas Seavey and his 10 dog team surged into the checkpoint of Skwentna at 12:44pm today looking like they were ready to continue down the trail without stopping. However, due to Skwentna being the checkpoint all teams will take their final mandatory 8 hour layover and dogs charged over into the dog parking space and immediately got to work getting into rest mode. Several dogs laid down and excitedly started pulling at their booties (think of it as like those of us that have to wear bras taking our bra off immediately after work, it's just ahhhh). Dallas went to work getting the dog food repaired and straw laid down for the dogs.
Aaron Burmeister and his team of 13 marched into the checkpoint an hour later with an official time of 1:45pm. Aaron has made up a lot of ground since McGrath, but he's quickly run out of real estate. The veteran musher running his 20th Iditarod this year made his move last night knowing he would have to make a monster run from Rainy Pass to Skwentna if he had any chance of challenging Dallas. With having an hour between the two suggests he will need a major wind and snow storm ala 2014 to blow up Dallas's lead. It's not impossible, but it's also not probable (thank you Capt Jack).
It also looks like Brent Sass is now trying to preserve his placement as third. Maybe he's hoping Aaron pushed too hard and won't have any gas left in the tank and can be over taken, but it seems like with the time gaps between the top three, we're pretty set for placements. Brent came in an hour and fifty-five minutes behind Aaron Burmeister, checking in at 3:40pm.
The mileage from Skwentna seems to be debatable. Some are saying 67 miles, others say 61. There is a steady snow falling in Skwentna and much of the area is supposed to get snow through much of the night. This may play a small factor, but it should not play a huge role in who ends up where.
The top three can leave Skwentna at the following times:
Dallas Seavey can leave at 8:44pm
Aaron Burmeister can leave at 9:45pm
Brent Sass can leave at 11:40pm
Then it's 60-70 miles to Deshka Landing and the finish line.
If Dallas manages to win this will be his fifth title. He will be the first musher to tie Rick Swenson's record of 5-wins. Dallas acknowledged today that the fifth win is elusive telling Iditarod Insider "the damn thing is cursed." Dallas went onto say his biggest worry in Skwentna is that he will fall asleep and take the wrong river on the home stretch. Which is possible. We've seen it happen in other races. But it will be a big mistake like that to allow Aaron a chance to overtake Dallas and his Monsters.
Predicted finish:
Bruce Lee told insider between 2am-3am
Danny Seavey 4:50am
Me: Heck if I know but I'd say about 3:30am.
Oh and to make it a little more fun and maybe more "real" Pete Kaiser's website has a recording of the Nome Siren you can play when the team is two miles out. The siren is played for every team that comes into the finish (unless it's after the top... 30? then it's only those during waking hours bc noise ordinance can only be ignored for so long).
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