With many mushers on the Iditarod trail choosing to take rest days, the pack has bunched up around a few different stops in the interior.
MCGRATH , Alaska - With many mushers on the Iditarod trail choosing to take rest days, the pack has bunched up around a few different stops in the interior. The leading group, including Riley Dyche, Matt Hall, and Josie Shelley have made it to the Ophir checkpoint.
A second, larger group that includes Jessie Holmes, Ryan Redington and Pete Kaiser stopped in Takotna. Almost all of the pack made it to McGrath by Wednesday evening, sharing stories of their days on the trail. “The trail itself has not been all that challenging,” musher Jeff Deeter said. “The weather has been more challenging. Super windy, basically right from the start line all through the Alaska Range.”“I got charged by a bison yesterday,” Jody Potts-Joseph said of an encounter just past the Rohn checkpoint. “That wasn’t fun when your gun only clicks.”“Kind of weird still to think that, like, this is the Iditarod right now,” first-time racer Sadie Lindquist said. “I pictured it a lot differently, I think.”Several mushers encountered particularly perilous stretches that saw them limp into town soaked. “It was all just wet,” Deeter recalled. “But it was just another good reason to stop here and take the rest.” “Everything that’s inside the sled is just soaked,” said Mille Porsild, who took a similar plunge. “It was a hole when you come down the gorge and I just had a really bad angle on it. It was mostly me who went in.” As of 10 p.m. on Wednesday night, the group resting at the Ophir checkpoint holds the joint lead of the race, with groups in Takotna and McGrath not far behind.Bangladeshi man arrested on charges of operating ‘child sexual exploitation’ ring in AlaskaA billionaire mushes the Iditarod trail to Nome — with lots of help
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