The race for third is about to get underway

Dan Kaduce at the Ceremonial Start
of Iditarod 50. March 5, 2022.
Anchorage, Alaska.

Jessie Holmes can leave at 11:35am Alaska Time Dan Kaduce will leave at 11:48am Alaska Time

With just thirteen minutes between them speed will be key in final placement. It will come down to how well they managed their teams throughout the race to get to this point and how much gas is left in the tank. Jessie's driven hard this last half (or more), Dan's taken a more conservative approach and found himself more than within striking distance of his highest placement yet.

Dan said in an interview earlier in the race that he has no desire to push another team or go faster than his team needs to, but with it being the last 77 miles of the race (give or take, Meredith Christine Mapes says it's actually 69) I would hope he'd punch the gas if he was in range.

It took Brent 10 hours and 32 minutes from White Mountain to Nome (if I did my iditamathing correctly). Dallas took 9 hours 1 minute. Of course, we know Brent was hit with wind gusts to where he was blown over and off the trail. Depending how the run goes today teams in the chase pack may have an easier go.

Dan also had a much faster time to White Mountain than Jessie did and is running a full team of 14 (which we have yet to find out if he will continue with all 14, but it seems likely that's his goal at this point). Jessie has 9 dogs coming into White Mountain and, again, we don't know if he will return more dogs off the trail before heading to Nome or not. It's doable with less. Dallas just completed the race in a windstorm with 8 very strong looking dogs in the finish (and in previous Iditarods he's finished with 7). 

Gear up, Iditarod fans, this race is far from over. While Dallas and Brent gave us a show in a windstorm, there's nothing quite like a nailbiter finish even for third!

*I'm still hoping for ski-pole jousting in No-Man's-Land (yes, I know they say that's against the rules, but it would make me happy).