When she pulled her team into Koyuk, Aliy Zirkle looked a little windblown, but she was in good spirits. It was clear when she opted to stay in the checkpoint that she did not intend to race for first in this year’s Iditarod.
“My plan since Galena has been a plan that has not worked out, but whatever. Does a plan ever work out?”
Zirkle said she didn’t know what she was going to do, but after a solid meal, both she and her dogs would be back out on the trail with a new race plan that might expedite their trip to Nome.
Musher Wade Marrs is trying to hold on to his fifth-place position.
“I’m worried, though, because there’s a lot of other people coming up behind me that aren’t slowing down.”
He says his team is moving well. Along with other mushers, he fought a stiff north headwind while crossing the sea ice into Koyuk Sunday.
Marrs said he was looking over his shoulder. When he pulled his team into Shaktoolik, he also briefly considered pushing further ahead in the hopes of catching the front runners, but he quickly decided that might not be a realistic decision.
“There’s always a chance, but most likely, no. Their dog teams look great, and they’re in front of me, so catching up time on those guys is really hard to do.”
As of 12noon Monday, Aliy Zirkle and Wade Marrs remain in 4th and 5th positions, respectively. Zirkle departed Elim at 9:24am with 13 dogs, approximately 5 hours behind front-runners Dallas and Mitch Seavey and Brent Sass. Wade Marrs, at publish time, is resting in Elim; he arrived at 10:58am with 12 dogs.
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