Sass nearing Shaktoolik

Brent Sass was first into Unalakleet a little bit before midnight Saturday night and is now closing in on Shaktoolik. Sass has a lead of 15 miles on Dallas Seavey, and it does not look like his team plans to slow down. Brent is having one of those once in a lifetime runs so far. Perhaps if DSeavey's dogs hadn't been slow to get in race rhythm perhaps the gap would be smaller. Still, the coast can change even the best teams out flat.

While Seavey has gained some time/miles on Brent since the Yukon, there's still a wide margin that right now seems insurmountable. While anything could happen (let's not forget 2014 and Jeff King having a similar run until a freakishly strong windstorm knocked him out of his 5th win completely, had Aliy hunkered down and further back third place Dallas Seavey ended up winning his 2nd Iditarod Championship) it will have to take the lead team making some very big mistakes for Dallas to catch Brent and take off ahead of him.

Meanwhile the chase pack has an amazing among of leap frog going on that will probably continue even past White Mountain. As each team jockeys for position their different strategies have fans finding it impossible to understand who is running in which position. As with many Iditarods the excitement is really third through tenth at this point. 

For those watching Jeff King's race intently, after finishing his 24 in Ruby he made it onto the Yukon and he currently sits in Galena - where he may decide to take his 8. He is currently in 32nd place, which I'm sure he is happy with, but his dogs are probably ready to keep going. He has done amazingly well without too much warning or preparation, using Nic Petit's drop bags as well as his team, and while he's still recovering from surgery (from back in October). As always, Mr. The King is inspiring multiple generations of mushing fans and mushers.

For the back of the pack they are all out of Cripple on the standings, and the GPS shows no one back tracking to the checkpoint to suggest a scratch is forthcoming. Lisbet Norris is solidly bringing up the rear at this point with her team of all pure-bred Siberian huskies. Soon all teams will be on or past the Yukon. 

And, for those wondering about the middle to back of the pack, Insider has heard our pleas and while they cannot follow them through the length of their race they do plan to have live cams in Koyuk and White Mountain until all teams have made it safely through those checkpoints.