Lance Mackey is still in the lead at mm 761. Lance was the 1st to arrive into Unalakleet and won the Wells Fargo Gold Coast trophy and $2,500. He won 2 other checkpoint prizes worth $6,500. If he wins the race he receives $69,000 plus a new truck.
King is at mm 731, Backer, Neff and M. Seavey are at mm 729. Dallas is 10th at mm 701.
This part of the race is very cold and windy. Crossing Norton Sound is always risky with temperatures of -40 with 30+mph winds. It was reported that this race has seen an 80 degree swing in temperature.
Rookie Musher Kurt Reich (Bib #63), from Colorado, decided to scratch on Sunday and will call it quits at Ophir. I have noticed over the years that it is very hard to compete with the Alaskans. They train in this brutal climate and it can't be duplicated.
Dog collar tags are use to identify each dog. Each mushers receives tags with their number and a letter. Each dog is then recorded and this report is used to make sure each dog is returned to the owner. You can find a collar tag from the 2007 race in the Iditarod display case in our corporate office.
Rosanne & I are leaving for Nome in an hour so the next report will come from the Bering Sea. I hope cell phones and the internet are in service this year!!
Note: I will cover dog microchipping in my next blog - thanks for visiting our site.
