Redington leads, chase pack several hours behind

Ryan Redington was lone man on the trail for most of Saturday as he blew through Aniak to complete the loop before planning to rest in Kalskag inbound. The Iditarod Champion is known for running fast and aggressively out of the gate and with the trail reports of hard packed icy trails it was no surprise to see Ryan blast off down the trail. 

KattiJo Deeter blew through Aniak two hours behind Redington and is not really running to win. The chase pack behind Deeter, however, have a lot of teams that plan on racing down Redington -if they have to- to the finish. 

Matthew Failor and Pete Kaiser have both completed their 6 hour mandatory rest (while in the loop) and can now run straight on into their mandatory 4 hour at the final checkpoint. Redington and Deeter (both Deeters, actually) still need to take 3 hours in the Kalskag checkpoint.

Travis Beals is also in the mix, completing his rest and is using the highly successful strategy of resting dogs in the sled/trailer while running. It seems to be paying off as he has had very strong runs thus far. 

Redington is about 4 miles to Kalskag and his three hour rest. Kaiser and Failor look to be about two hours behind Redington at this stage. There's still plenty of race left and it's anyone's guess who will take the lead out of Kalskag.