Teams in White Mountain prepare to leave

The final four are currently in the checkpoint of White Mountain packing up and prepping their teams to head back out on the trail. The teams have been held longer than their mandatory 8 as race officials determined when weather and trail conditions had improved enough to safely send teams down the trail. The mushers got the go ahead about an hour ago, and are taking their time making sure everything is set with their dogs and sleds before they head out.

Jeff and KattiJo Deeter and Sebastian Dos Santos Borges remain at the shelter cabin between White Mountain and Safety. The cabin provides shelter from the wind as well as a wood stove and the cabin was well stocked with firewood. After a harrowing 24 hours, you can't blame them wanting to take it easy. Perhaps they are also getting set to head out, just waiting to hear how Riley Dyche's run to Nome went. We won't know until someone contacts the outside world - or until they finish their race and tell their stories.

Speaking of Riley Dyche, he finished Iditarod at 10:30am Alaska time this morning after more than 35 hours after he left White Mountain. Talk about a crazy finish! 

Riley Dyche on his way to Nome

The first to stop during yesterday's windstorm looks to be the first one to make it to Nome. Riley Dyche ran in the early morning hours, making it to the checkpoint of Safety just before 8am Alaska time. Dyche is now climbing his final mountain of Iditarod 50 and it will hopefully be a straight shot and easy ride from there on out. 

Winds have died down a bit in Nome and Safety, but look to have picked up in White Mountain. Dyche's shelter cabin buddies are all still hunkered at the shelter, and it's anyone's guess when they decide to make their move. The three teams sat for most of Friday in the Topkok Hills in the wind and it could be that they need a little more time to recover from their ordeal. As we know, three teams scratched yesterday in the Topkok Hills. Gerhardt Thiart and Bridgett Watkins scratched due to injury, and Sean Williams tapped out several hours later deciding that with the winds set to pick up to a reported 60mph he did not want to risk injury or worse. All three are reportedly doing well and all of their dogs are happy and healthy in White Mountain (dogs do so much better in this stuff).

The four teams that made their way to White Mountain are still there even after completing their mandatory 8 hour rest. Mark Nordman announced last night that no teams would be allowed to continue until the race determined trail and weather conditions were safe to do so. At this time, winds are keeping everyone settled.

This may be the first time in a long while that the red lantern doesn't come in until after the banquet starts on Sunday. 

Mushing Radio - Iditarod 50: Red Lantern Award

Bridgett Watkins suffers frostbite and broken clavicle

Kennel on the Hill gave us a photo and an update tonight on Bridgett Watkins' condition after having to scratch due to musher injury today.

Thiart out with suspected broken foot

 Insider Fans got to watch some drama unfold as a helicopter touched down in White Mountain this afternoon and watched as several volunteers helped someone walk across the snow to the waiting lift. The person had their right leg extended out in front of them as they were hobbled/carried. The confirmation came soon after from the Insider cameraman saying it was Gerhardt Thiart who had to be airlifted to Nome.

Gerhardt was stopped in the Topkok Hills when he managed to crash with his sled and injure his right foot. The musher suspected his ankle was broken. Thankfully someone came up on a snowmachine and stopped to see how he was doing. Gerhardt told him he needed help so they went a half mile back to where Bridgett Watkins was camped to have her take a look. It was decided Gerhardt was definitely in need of help so they left him with her dogs and they went back to get his. 

Once they got back with the dogs, Gerhardt reported he was feeling hypothermic. The SOS button was at some point hit, but the snowmachine carried the musher back while search and rescue assembled to meet up with Watkins. 

Gerhardt was running Mitch Seavey's puppy team.

BREAKING: Bridgett Watkins has also returned to White Mountain via snowmachine and was taken to the local clinic. No other information on her condition is known. Search and Rescue are with the dog team.

Gerhardt Thiart's race is probably over

As expected, it looks like the rookie from South Africa's time on the Iditarod Trail has ended prematurely. Fans watched most of Friday as his tracker rested with several other teams in the Topkok Hills waiting out a massive windstorm, and then Thiart's tracker started moving backward with speeds that typically mean snowmachine "rescue". 

The trackers weren't straightforward, however, as it bounced around the trail with sometimes normal dog team speeds and other time snowmachine speed. However, at last look, his tracker shows in White Mountain going at a speed of 377mph (which signifies air travel). His race is most certainly over, we just need to wait for the official announcement.

BREAKING: (AK 2:32pm) reports are now coming out of Nome that a helicopter was dispatched to rescue a musher off of the trail who has suffered broken leg(s). Judging by the speed of Gerhardt's tracker is a good assumption we know which musher it was that needed the medical support.

Winds stall teams out of White Mountain

Just when we all thought the winds would play nice after what they put the top twenty through, well... we were wrong. Currently, seven teams are hunkered down on the Topkok hills buried into the local topography and in shelter cabins hoping they can start moving in short lulls promised to them by weather reports being texted to them from Nome. Behind White Mountain the final four are still able to move, but judging by their speeds being so inconsistent it's easy to assume that the wind gusts are hitting along Golovin Bay as well.

Riley Dyche was out first of White Mountain and is currently holed up in the shelter cabin at the top of the blowhole (where winds are typically even worse than the hills). He's been there most of the morning and it doesn't look like he's moving any time soon. There is some talk that he'd lost his GPS tracker and that he would be coming into Nome any moment... but those moments have turned into hours and there's no indication that he's ever checked into Safety.

And, as if watching trackers not move at all for over 12 hours isnt enough stress, let's throw in a few wonky what the heck is going on trackers into the mix. Gerhardt Thiart's tracker keeps jumping back and forth to where he had been resting with several other teams out of White Mountain to zooming backwards down the trail, only to bounce back. It would suggest that Thiart's race is done just 70 miles from the finish, but right now his tracker sits at yellow in a very random spot.

And in the back of the pack we have to wayward souls running the wrong trail out of Golovin. Eric Kelly and Yuka Honda show as way off course and it's a 50/50 right now if they are truly off course or if Aliens are just really enjoying messing with our technology today. 

No matter what the final 11 teams will all have some wild stories to share if they ever make it to Nome. Could this be our new Elim 11?

Mushing Radio - Iditarod 50: Fancy Sweaters

Buser minutes away from completing his 39th Iditarod

Martin Buser is currently on the home stretch of his 39th Iditarod. The musher has never scratched from a race and has been a constant of this race for nearly 4 decades. Always a fan favorite, the four-time Iditarod champion hasn't challenged often for a top placement, but it's clear he runs Iditarod for the love of the race and the dogs. More often than not Buser becomes a mentor out on the trail and an encourager to the rookies he runs with during the thousand mile race.

He's about to come off the beach and onto Front Street in the next few minutes where he will be greeted by his wife Kathy and many friends under the burled arch. Congrats on another fantastic Iditarod, Martin.

Lisbet Norris scratches in Unalakleet

As many guessed, Norris' Iditarod ended prematurely in Unalakleet. The all Siberian team struggled to maintain a speed that kept them in with the back of the pack, and most fans knew it was just a matter of time before she would be asked to withdraw. While her stats show scratch and not withdrawal, it was circulated earlier in the week that the musher had been put on notice to get caught up or face a withdrawl. While not information from official sources, it came as no surprise and most speculated she would end her race where she did.

Her team of 10 dogs at the time of the scratch will fly back to Anchorage in the next day or so. The musher was met with 4 gifted Pizzas in the checkpoint. Better luck next time, Lisbet.