Lance Mackey took the halfway gold just after midnight this morning, surprising no one by being the first into the ghost town of Iditarod. But Paul Gebhart was there just six minutes behind him.
Chasing those two out of Ophir are former champion Mitch Seavey and Ed Iten, who left two and a quarter hours behind Gebhart. Cym Smyth and Tollef Monsen left Ophir another two and a quarter hours behind them. Ramey Smyth has also left Ophir and, like the rest of this leading pack, has not yet taken his mandatory 24-hour layover.
Coming off their layovers this morning in Ophir are Jeff King, Martin Buser, and Zack Steer.
John Baker is on his way into Ophir after taking his 24 in McGrath. This afternoon in Ophir, Jim Lanier and Robert Sorlie of Norway will come off their 24’s.
Another Norwegian musher is staying in the top 20, so far leading the race for Rookie of the Year. She is the latest contender to come out of Team Norway, by way of Kotzebue. [Play the audio to hear APRN Iditarod Trail Reporter Ellen Lockyer's chat with Sigrid Ekran].
Resting strategy begins to play into the race as the front running pack hopes it got far enough ahead that their layovers won’t leave them too far behind. A large number of teams chose to lay over in Takotna, making them appear to be further behind than they actually are. The first group of those includes Jason Barron, now down to 11 dogs, Aliy Zirkle, Ken Anderson, Ramy Brooks, and Aaron Burmeister.
In addition to layovers, dog count becomes important now. Lance Mackey came into the halfway point with 15 of his original 16 dogs, Paul Gebhart with 14. Cim Smyth, Tollef Monsen and Ramey Smyth are each down to 13. Ed Iten has 15 and Mitch Seavey has 14 while Jeff King is still running with all 16 of his dogs. Martin Buser and Zack Steer have 15. Jim Lanier has 14 dogs, and Robert Sorlie 13.
68 teams remain in the race. The Red Lantern, currently held by Deborah Molburg Bicknell, has yet to arrive in Rohn. The list of mushers who scratched grew to ten yesterday. Perry Solmonson and rookie Scott White called it quits.