Twelve of the sixteen remaining Iron Dog teams have checked out of Nome and are back on the clock. Jerod Vaughn and Michael Oliver of Team #35, who sped out of East Beach at 11:47 AM, are the latest racers to hop back on their Ski-Doos and into the race.
As of this update, frontrunners Tyler Acklestad and Nick Olstad have maintained their commanding lead, most recently checking out of Shaktoolik southbound at 11:34 AM.
Race officials may have marked the trail farther away from the Eastern Norton Sound’s shore. According to the unofficial GPS Live Tracker, the teams trailing Acklestad and Olstad are racing miles west off of the coast and bearing down on Shaktoolik. As per the official standings, Todd Minnick and Dan Thibault of Team #16 are in second position after checking out of Koyuk at 11:15 AM. Ten minutes behind them were Mike Morgan and Chris Olds, after they passed Brett Lapham and Zack Weisz in White Mountain. However, according to the tracker Brad George of Team #6 has retaken second position just miles from Shaktoolik.
No team in the top five positions has used any layover hours as of this race update. Racers have to take one mandatory layover of 10 hours at any checkpoint between Nome and Ruby.
Stay tuned to KNOM for more updates on the latest race standings and who has yet to leave Nome.
Image at top: IronDog race leaders Mike Morgan and Chris Olds arrive at the halfway point in Nome during 2014 race.
