Bethel's Boys race for fifth

Okay, well, Richie is really from Aniak, but that didn't have quite the same ring to it. 

Equally as exciting as the race for third is the race for fifth. This is made even more fun - in my not so humble opinion - because the two racing for that prize are the two Kuskokwim Champions and hometown heroes Richie Diehl and Peter Kaiser. Kaiser, as you know, is also the 2019 Iditarod champion. 

The two Native mushers (making up 50% of this year's race's Native Alaskan mushers) are close friends as well as close rivals. They've often said they push each other to be better dog men as well as competitors. To see them go head to head for that final top five spot should be entertaining. 

Richie Diehl was out of White Mountan first at 12:50pm Alaska Time, Peter Kaiser was out eleven minutes later at 1:01pm. A quick look at the tracker shows the teams having less than two miles between them. 

Meanwhile the race for third has seemed to open up as Jessie Holmes is going full throttle thru the Topkok Hills. Holmes is headed for the blowhole which we know gave Iditarod Champion Brent Sass a whole lot of trouble last night (adding over an hour to his total time into Nome). Jessie has outrun Dan in most runs physically but time wise Dan has posted the faster run. This may come down to one of those classic runs for the finish line where the musher runs with the team to give them some extra speed.

Next out of the chute will be Aaron Burmeister at 1:57pm followed eleven minutes later by Chad Stoddard who is running Dallas Seavey's B+ team (7 Iditarod finishers, 7 "puppies"). Chad's run a heck of a last run with an unproven dog team and will be very happy with a top ten finish, but don't be surprised if he challenges Aaron for the 7th place.

Who do you think will take the winning spots out of these duels? Comment below with your predictions!