Redington leads Knik 200 into first checkpoint

The "puppy team" of Ryan Redington came into Eagle Quest 1 Checkpoint alongside Josh McNeal's team at 1:55pm Alaska time. At about 45 miles into the 200 mile race, it's far from a declaration of his intentions, but it still had people talking for much of the day as they watched Ryan's tracker stay in the lead or very close to it.

Ed Hopkins rounded out the first three into the checkpoint just three minutes behind. Ryan had the fastest time into the checkpoint by about three minutes when you factored in the time differential. Redington reportedly grabbed straw and plans to camp somewhere in the 55 miles from the checkpoint to the halfway point back on Knik Lake where a mandatory 6hr+time differential rest awaits the teams.

Redington's team is made up of a combination of young dogs from his kennel plus dogs from his dad's kennel as well as one from Hunter Keefe. While it's still not sure what Ryan's plans are, it looks like he'll fall back a bit once he decides where to camp on the trail. 

The front runners are at least 4.5 hours until the halfway point judging by trackers. It'll be an early morning start tomorrow for many off of their differential.