Entering the 2nd Half!

I wake this am to find Nic in the lead, and after I did my morning Idita-News gathering ritual I see he just pulled into Shageluk Checkpoint at mile 487.  Mitch is chasing him and is presently at mile 480.

If you recall, Joar couldnt leave Iditarod Checkpoint until his 24 hour (plus start differential) was served, and when I watched the video of his 15 string of dogs leave (he only dropped one in Iditarod), all I can say is Mitch and Nic better watch their backs....these dogs were literally screaming to go!  As the sled passed the camera man Joar let out a "yahoo!"  What a sight heading out of the checkpoint!

Forecast is for snow all day.....they didn't say how much accumulation, as I think the wind blows it around pretty good.  King and Larry Daughtery both reported blizzard like conditions on the trail to Iditarod....so much so that King had thoughts of meeting his demise on this section of trail...quite the statement knowing of all the weather he has mushed through in his career as a Musher! 

Besides the wind and the snow, there was one other common thread in the discussion with Mushers....snow machines....lots of snow machine traffic.  The dog team could be making 7 or 8 mph on the trail, and then a half dozen snow machines come by and churns up the crust, slowing the dog team down to 5 or 6 mph just like that!  Too bad they can not control the machine traffic...it really is impacting the speed of the Teams.  The Mushers seem to accept this as something they have to deal with, just like the weather.  Once they get out onto the Yukon River it wont be so bad as its a wider trail out there...but in the interior, where no trail has been traveled and packed down except for this race makes for a fragile trail, and just can't handle the heavy machines with no real developed solid base under it.

So here is a rundown of the Teams as shown on the GPS Tracker:

Nic at Shageluk, resting at mile 487
Mitch running at mile 482
Joar coming on strong at mile 467
Richie Diehl running at mile 450
Pete Kaiser running at mile 450
Ray Redington at mile 449
Jessie Royer at mile 448
Lindwood Fiedler running at mile 446 with Wade Marrs and Aaron Burmeister
Aliy Zirkle at mile 443
Hugh Neff at mile 442
Travis Beals at mile 438
Kelly Maxiner at mile 436
Michelle Phillips at mile 434
Mats Petterson at mile 433

Everyone else is resting in Iditarod at mile 432.