Aniak’s Richie Diehl and Bethel’s Pete Kaiser are both in the White Mountain checkpoint on the Iditarod trail, waiting out a layover.
Diehl was the fifth musher to arrive at 4:50 a.m. on March 15. Kaiser was the sixth musher to arrive, just 11 minutes after Diehl at 5:01 a.m. Both mushers from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta have nine dogs with them.
All mushers are required to take an 8-hour layover in White Mountain before racing the final 77 miles to Nome. That means Diehl and Kaiser will be able to leave the checkpoint around 1 p.m.
Two other mushers have just ended their mandatory rests in White Mountain. Jessie Holmes completed his at 11:35 a.m. He's ranked in third position and has nine dogs. Fourth position musher Dan Kaduce completed his rest 13 minutes later at 11:48 a.m. He is the only musher to have all 14 dogs that he started the race with still in harness.
After his layover, Iditarod winner Brent Sasscompleted the run between While Mountain and Nome in just under 11 hours. He had to run through a windstorm, which slowed his pace. Second place finisher Dallas Seavey completed the run in about 10 hours.
If Diehl and Kaiser take the same amount of time, they would finish their Iditarod races between 11 p.m. and midnight tonight, March 15.
