Drobny, Hall declare their 24 - Holmes first out of Galena

Another busy night on the Iditarod trail as the front runners of Iditarod 53 made their way to the checkpoint of Galena. Paige Drobny was first in around 6:40am Thursday, followed by Matt Hall about two and a half hours later. Both teams declared their 24 with fans and analysts alike hedging bets on if one or both decided to cut and run after a few hours.

About 20-30mins later Jessie Holmes and Michelle Phillips made their way into Galena with Jessie Holmes deciding to grab some gear and straw and head down the trail. With the straw bale firmly secure to the back of his sled suggesting the musher will camp somewhere on the run from Ruby to Nulato. According to Insider Bruce Lee, Jessie Holmes has hinted that he plans to take his 24 in Kaltag.

It should be noted that unlike a normal Iditarod year, this year's race will not see the first Mandatory 8 taken until Kaltag as the 8 hours must be taken on the Kaltag loop. Right now teams are jockeying for placement for making it to where they hope to take their 24s.

After yesterday's news that Jeff Deeter was contemplating scratching, the musher did take his 24 hour mandatory rest to reassess. In an interview with Insider the musher said that in talking with Dallas Seavey who was visiting the checkpoint Seavey asked him why was [Jeff] out there running Iditarod, Jeff answered "to be challenged" - well, Seavey said, here's your challenge. What are you going to do with it? Deeter left Tanana around 5am Thursday and is currently on his way to Ruby.

The back of the pack currently has Charmayne Morrison resting in Tanana, Quince Mountain is resting on the trail as the next to last team. Morrison may be on her 24 or we may be seeing another team in "trouble" and contemplating scratching. Mountain had planned to take the first couple of days a little slower to get the team into rhythm, however with the trail conditions of sugar snow - the further back the teams are, the worse the trail conditions are... which means even slower going and more potential for sore muscles and joints for the teams.

We're getting to the heat of the day in Alaska so look for teams to start shutting down for their 4-5 hour rests while it's warm to give the dogs a chance to cool down and stretch out.