Jessie Holmes first to the Coast

Jessie Holmes pulled into Unalakleet Sunday afternoon and was awarded the First to the Coast award. The musher accepted the greeting and congratulations and then parked his dog team along the snowberm built to protect teams from the constant Western Alaskan winds. 

Holmes' official time in was 12:33pm. Not long after Dallas Seavey pulled into the checkpoint in his fast paced get in and out of the checkpoint sort of way. He grabbed straw and then his drop bags and maneuvered his team close to the exit of the checkpoint. Snacking his dogs he then go to work of preparing to get out of the checkpoint. Unofficially Dallas left at 1pm. All dogs ate their snacks quickly and were barking to go.

Travis Beals and Matt Hall are about 10 miles from Unalakleet and are running close together. Still in the hunt, but it'll quickly become difficult to catch up as we just have over a couple hundred more miles from here.

It is anyone's guess how long Holmes will stay in the checkpoint. He has a team of young dogs and while they are posting impressive speeds, it does seem they need to take big breaks between these pushes.

Rookie Erin Altemus scratches in Ruby

 After 18 hours of rest in the check point, leaving only to turn around and come back, Erin Altemus' Iditarod has ended early. In a post to Facebook Sunday morning, her husband posted the news.

"Well my friends, this crazy iditarod experiment came to a screeching halt this morning and Erin had trouble leaving the checkpoint of Ruby. At that point she was in last and couldn't afford to rest her dogs anymore and get too far behind the leaders, in which she would have gotten withdrawn anyway," he wrote. "They had been dealing with some intestinal and mental issues and a tougher than normal trail. She had personally been dealing with a cold throughout the trip. The dogs and Erin are doing well and we'll get her back to Anchorage and give her lots of backrubs and love. I know she didn't give up easy and this was super tough for her. I'd like to say she'll try again but I don't really know yet. It's a huge sacrifice to get up here to the start line so we'll have to re-group and see what happens. Like they say it's just a dog race, we'll be ok, thanks for the love and support!"

Choosing to scratch is never an easy decision, but is always the right one. Even some of the greatest ever to run this race have had to make the decision. Altemus had ten dogs in harness when she chose to scratch. Musher and dogs will travel back to Anchorage via Iditarod Airforce. Erin is the first scratch of Iditarod 52.

Could we have our first scratch?

 Fans have been increasingly more excited about the lack of scratches on this year's race, however it looks like that may be coming to an end.

Rookie Erin Altimus had a super long rest in Ruby, left the checkpoint with 10 dogs, and then this morning her tracker had her backtracking to the checkpoint. 

There's no official word yet as to what may be going on. We'll have to keep watching the tracker to see which direction she goes from here.

Party at Old Woman Cabin

In a turn no ones truly predicted, the entire lead pack chose to rest at Old Woman's Cabin early this morning. Dallas Seavey was first to the cabin followed by Jessie Holmes, Travis Beals, Matt Hall, Pete Kaiser, and Paige Drobny. They didn't all come in together, but it was an interesting sight to see at the front of the Iditarod all of the potential winners huddled together waiting for the other to twitch.

At around 8:40am, though, trackers indicated Jessie Holmes was out first from the party pack.

Judging by the slow going - well under average speeds for these teams on this leg - the trail conditions must not have been ideal. Dallas Seavey led all night but managed only to make it as far as Old Woman. Travis had a four to five hour rest on everyone at his campout and yet he chose to wait until after Seavey passed to get moving, and he didn't make up any time on the five time champion.

Dallas has taken shorter rests - other than the mandatory 8 - on the Yukon to catch back up to the others and then did this push in what seems to be tough trail. It's a gamble that may or may not pay off, but it seems to be a risk Dallas was willing to take.

This is anything but normal in recent memory. Most often your leader was out on the trail all alone. Now we still don't have a clear favorite to win, and it's all guesswork. 

At 8:48am the tracker showed Dallas Seavey on the move giving chase. This is far from over, folks. Buckle up and settle in, the last leg is going to be a WILD RIDE (see what we did there?).

Seavey makes a move

In an interesting turn of events Dallas Seavey has "cut rest" and headed back out on the trail after spending just two hours and twenty-five minutes out on the trail. The Five Time Champion has banked more time than the other front runners in part due to his two hour penalty added on to his 24 hour mandatory rest. However, Dallas and his team of fifteen dogs seemed to hit the Yukon and kick into a gear many didn't expect - at least, not realistically.

Dallas pulled the hook at 9:01pm and left Kaltag after sending three dogs home. The musher had thought about leaving them with the volunteers in Nulato, but chose to keep them in the team for the run to Kaltag, however now speed matters and the fewer dogs he has the more efficient he will be when he takes breaks out on the trail and in checkpoints.

As Dallas was pulling out of the checkpoint, Jessie Holmes was readying his team to do the same. Jessie pulled the hook forty-six minutes after Dallas and gave chase. Matt Hall also pulled the hook and left just two minutes after Holmes. 

At last glance at the GPS tracker, Travis Beals is still resting at the shelter cabin 13 miles outside of Kaltag. It's anyone's guess when he will decide to pack up and head to Unalakleet, whether he knows Dallas and Jessie and Matt are all on their way. The race to the coast looks to be a close one.

Dallas packed straw in his sled, expect the champion to camp before Unalakleet as is his habit.

It's too quiet

Kaltag got busy this afternoon as first Travis Beals and then Jessie Holmes were followed by Paige Drobny, Matt Hall, Ryan Redington, and Dallas Seavey into the checkpoint. Only Beals chose to cut and run after a quick stop to grab supplies. Beals went 13 miles up the trail and camped. 

That was this afternoon, the sun has now set and no one is moving. It seems the front runners are all still trying to preserve as much energy as possible from their teams. Dallas Seavey who was two hours behind his schedule due to a penalty given at his 24hour mandatory seemed just a day ago to not be in the running to challenge Beals, and now he's acting as though he might be the first of the chase pack to leave Kaltag. 

In the back of the race the final two teams are running into Ruby and then everyone but Beals will be on the Yukon. Beals, of course, left the river and is now on his way to Unalakleet (or will be once he stops camping).

This race is far from being determined. All of the teams resting in Kaltag (and the one camping) look phenomenal. This may be one of those races that isn't declared until the teams run up Front Street in Nome. 

First three -no, FOUR- are into Nulato

It was a long night on the Yukon for the top teams as they traveled down the wind tunnel known as the Yukon River. By 10pm the air temp was already -10 (according to Dallas Seavey's sled thermometer) and getting colder. Teams were running into Galena to meet up with Travis Beals who has a strong handle on the lead. Beals chose to take his mandatory 8 in Galena and pulled the hook at 11:24pm and found himself pulling into Nulato at 5:49pm giving him a run time of 6 hours and 25 minutes.

Dallas Seavey left Galena after a 3.5 hour rest in the checkpoint following forty minutes behind Beals. Dallas had a six minute faster run. According to commentary on the Insider it is believed Dallas will take his 8 in Nulato. Of the top 10 teams, Seavey is the only one who has yet to take his 8. This should not be surprising considering his over 27 hour break in Cripple. The team has been power charged this whole race and the longer than normal rest did not seem to slow them down (which can sometimes happen if a team isn't managed correctly).

Jessie Holmes came into Nulato at 8:15am and he ran it 10 minutes faster than Seavey. Holmes has the smallest team of the three as he is down to 11 dogs (not something to worry about), Beals has 12, and Seavey is still at 15. Holmes team looked fast and loose coming into Nulato. Holmes has taken his 8 so this shouldn't be a very long break for him.

Nulato will continue to see mushers come in Saturday morning and afternoon, and it will no doubt unnerve Seavey that he is "stuck" there as Beals and presumably Holmes take off well before he can. Beals has never had to "protect his lead" in the Iditarod, it's all new territory for Travis and he, too, will have to survive the mental gymnastics that entails.

Paige Drobny is picking off teams one by one as she goes further down the trail. She is now fourth into Nulato with a blistering pace of five hours and forty-five minutes. The Squids are definitely going to play a huge factor in how Beals and Holmes race the Coast.

At -30 on the river this morning, there's only one more checkpoint on the river before they cross over to the coast. Early Sunday should be when we see the first team hit the coast. (And, yes, folks we're to the point where you should probably order those Peace on Earth pizzas in Unalakleet for your favorite teams, and maybe some for the volunteers on the trail). 

There's no clear shake down yet, which seems a little strange. There is a huge field of contenders late in the race and it may not be until Shaktoolik that we get a better picture of how this all ends. 

In the back of the pack there was quite teh shake up last night as Calvin Daugherty turned around and went back to Cripple about two hours into his run to Ruby. According to chat fans KattiJo reported over night that Calvin had forgotten his mittens and chose to go back to get them. He is now about seven hours behind schedule and third from last place. Robbins and Mumford continue to go back and forth in the Red Lantern position.

Beals rests in Galena as chase pack moves in

Travis Beals has had the checkpoint of Galena all to himself for much of Friday afternoon having checked into the second stop on the Yukon River at 3:24pm. The musher elected not to take his 8 hour break in Ruby wanting to keep as much trail between he and the chase pack as possible. 

While Nicolas Petit sat in Ruby Friday he watched the leaders and chase pack catch him. Beals and Jessie Holmes were the first two in - but nearly three hours apart. Beals chose to head on down the trail after about four hours of rest, Holmes chose to stay and take his mandatory 8. As they rested, Paige Drobny and Ryan Redington were next in.

The two mushers on very different schedules met on the run into Ruby after Redington fell off his sled and Paige picked him up and carried him until they came up on his team. Musher and dogs fine they continued into the checkpoint with Paige taking the lead. Drobny has steadily picked off teams in this race and she doesn't look to be finished yet.

Pete Kaiser and Dallas Seavey also spent time in Ruby Friday, with the five time champion taking just under three hours resting before heading back onto the River. Pete Kaiser chose to stay for four and a half hours before following. Both Kaiser and Seavey had very strong looking teams, with Seavey's team eating everything offered to them enthusiastically.

Redington and Drobny also chose to spend 8 hours in Ruby and are now back on the trail behind Kaiser and Seavey. Aaron Burmeister looks to be taking his 8 hour as he's been in Ruby since 1:30pm ish. 

Matt Hall is 2 miles from Galena. It will be interesting to see if Beals gets up and gets moving. 

Beals leads the Iditarod

While Nic Petit enjoyed a steak dinner courtesy of Iditarod partners South and Spenard Roadhouse, Travis Beals and team continued up the trail into Ruby. The musher originally from Seward checked into Ruby at 4:48am Friday morning. Nic Petit decided to take his 24 in Ruby and cannot leave until late Friday Night, so on paper, this race is Travis Beals' to lose at this juncture.

Next behind Travis - behind by nearly three hours - is Jessie Holmes who so far seems to be having quite the race. Both teams parked and settled their team in for rest. At now 8:45am Travis is packing up getting ready to leave after about four hours of good rest for his team. 

The chase pack of Ryan Redington and Paige Drobny have pulled into Ruby and Paige gained and passed Redington into the checkpoint. 

Behind them are a second chase pack that includes Dallas Seavey.

The leaders are on their way to Ruby

 

As Nicolas Petit makes his way into the checkpoint of Ruby to win his first to the Yukon Prize (which sounds super yummy again this year!), the teams behind him are strongly making their statement that they're the teams to beat. Travis Beals, Paige Drobny, and Jessie Holmes have slingshot themselves over Dallas Seavey and are now in control of the race to the Yukon. 

While Petit may be furthest along, he's also furthest behind of those out in front. Why? One simple reason, the musher has chosen to wait to take his 24 hour mandatory rest presumably in Ruby. This was the plan, the musher assured fans on Insider back in Ophir, to go as far as possible before taking the 24. He had Jeff King do just that two years ago with his team, and he's back trying it again.

There are currently five teams on the trail out of Cripple. Dallas Seavey remains in the checkpoint of Cripple preparing to leave in just over an hour when he can finally give chase to those who passed him this afternoon. Seavey spoke at length with Iditarod Insider Thursday afternoon giving the run down on just what happened with the moose and the choices he made in the aftermath of dispatching the animal. In the nearly thirteen minute interview Dallas accepts the penalty the Race Marshall handed down (which yes Dallas knew about it back in McGrath so it wasn't a surprise into Cripple), he also apologizes for not doing things properly out of shock. All in all, Dallas is ready to move on and finish strong.

It will be another exciting night of Iditarod, and for those that can watch without having to go to work in the morning: just know you are very envied.

Tomorrow the race on the Yukon begins.