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It's day three of the 2023 Iditarod, which means ... it's time to take the day off! Everyone is seemingly taking their manditory 24-hour rest now (view of Flow Tracker):
Well everyone except for Wade Mars; he's shown as being in first, yay, moving from Ophir to Iditarod, where he will likely stop and take his 24. The strategies here are most interesting; Nic Petit is actually (I think) in first place moving from Nikolai where he has already completed his 24. (I highlighted him in the screenshot above by hovering over his name.) I think by the time he reaches Iditarod - likely, sometime late tonight - he will pass Wade and take over the lead. That's 70 miles for him - probably two runs - and will take him about 12 hours.
On the way he will pass Ryan Redington, Richie Diehl, and a host of others doing their 24s in Takotna, and then Jessie Holmes and Brent Sass, who are sitting 2nd and 3rd doing their 24s in Ophir. My prediction from speeds and timing is that when everyone is running through Iditarod, the order will be: Nic, Brent, Jessie, Ryan, and Richie, in that order. I think Pete Kaiser and Matt Failor are also in the mix, as are Eddie Burke (!) and Mille Porsild (yay), with Hunter Keefe in 10th. We'll check on this :)
The key factor seems to be the heat; many mushers are wanting to rest now with cooler weather predicted ahead. Trail conditions so far have been good. If it stays warm(er) it will make the Yukon River and then Norton Sound tougher, but we'll see. A lot of racing left.
Some pics:
Go Mille + team!
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