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The race among the apparent Iditarod leaders on the Yukon River is nearing its end, and teams have to do a mandatory eight-hour rest at a checkpoint before moving on. Front-runner Jessie Royer came into Kaltag at 3:18 p.m. on March 14 to begin her stay. Six teams followed her into the checkpoint, including Pete Kaiser and Brent Sass. 

The first group of mushers in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race headed down the Yukon River this afternoon with a woman leading the pack. Jessie Royer left the Ruby checkpoint at around 11:30 a.m. on March 13. She will probably make it to Galena early this evening. 

Following her down the river almost an hour and a half later was reigning Yukon Quest champion Brent Sass, with two teams hot on his heels. Joar Leifseth Ulsom and Richie Diehl left within minutes of each other, right after Sass. Ryan Redington left about a half-hour later.

A woman is back out in front of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race running down the Yukon River. Jessie Royer left the Nulato check point at around 9:30 this morning after taking a 3-hour rest and passed Brent Sass who was camping on the trail. At noon today her lead was increasing while Sass stayed put resting his dogs.

Back in Nulato, there are nine teams resting including Rihie Diehl and Pete Kaiser’s. 

Making her way to Galena is Jessi Klejka at the tail end of a pack of 5 other sled-dog teams.

There may be fewer people at the finish line to see the dog teams come in, but the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race to Nome is still on. 

Jessie Royer was first into the Nulato checkpoint, arriving at 6 a.m. on March 14. Richie Diehl’s team came in an hour later, followed by Thomas Warner and Pete Kaiser. Brent Sass, who led the race out of Galena yesterday afternoon, followed his usual habit of passing through the checkpoint and heading out to camp on the trail. 

The Iditarod front runners are in Ruby, resting their teams before heading down the Yukon River. Richie Diehl from Aniak was the fifth team into the checkpoint; Jessie Royer was the first musher to reach Ruby. Diehl came into Ruby at 8:44 a.m. on March 13, a couple of hours behind Royer. Bethel’s Pete Kaiser was the ninth musher into Ruby, arriving at 10:18 a.m.

Jessica Klejka is resting her team in Cripple before making the run to the Yukon River. She arrived there at 7:25 a.m.

At this point, all but two teams in the race have completed the mandatory 24-hour rest.  

The Anchorage School District has canceled the regional basketball tournaments due to concerns about the coronavirus. District Spokesperson Lisa Miller said that all of the gyms in the Anchorage School District are closed for the next week as well.

It was late afternoon on March 12 when the second wave of sled dog teams started coming into the Iditarod’s halfway point in Cripple. Leading those coming in was Thomas Waerner. The seven teams who were already at the checkpoint taking their mandatory 24-hour break can do nothing but watch as those mushers who have already completed the required rest mush on towards Ruby and the Yukon River.