Six teams are making their way to the Cripple checkpoint on the Iditarod Trail. Cripple is the halfway mark in the race, and the musher who arrives there first gets $3,000 in gold nuggets as a prize. So far, Brent Sass is in the lead.
As the mushers in this group try to get farther ahead before taking their required 24-hour layovers, most of the front-runners are already taking their required rest. Two are in Ophir, but most are resting in Takotna, with Pete Kaiser among them.