The first racers in the 2020 Iron Dog Snowmachine Race have arrived in Nome.

Tyler Acklestad and Nick Olstad of Team #7 crested the snow ramp on East Beach just over half an hour ago at 4:27pm. They spoke briefly to KNOM radio, met with fans, and headed for the garage shortly afterwards. (To hear that interview and more from the race leaders, tune into KNOM tomorrow morning during the 8am newscast.)

The Iron Dog’s official leaderboard still has Team 6 of Tyson Johnson and Brad George in second position, and the unofficial GPS tracker backs that up.

According to the tracker, Johnson is leading the rest of the pack out of White Mountain and could be in Nome before the end of the 5 o’clock hour. However, as of this update his racing partner, George, appears to have stopped before White Mountain. His tracker may have been malfunctioning, because by 5:15pm George was shown close behind his teammate, and no longer following Team #5 of Brett Lapham and Zack Weisz.

Image at top: Tyler Aklestad of Team #7 ontop of the snow ramp in Nome. Photo from Davis Hovey, KNOM (2020).