There are new race leaders in this year’s Iron Dog as the top six teams are all resting in McGrath. Casey Boylan and Bryan Leslie of team #14 are currently holding first position while they finish out a 13-hour layover.
Brad George and Robby Schachle, who have been at the front of the pack for most of this race, are currently 30 minutes behind Boylan and Leslie. However, George and Schachle have a chance to retake the lead as they’ll be leaving Galena about thirty minutes before team #14. According to the leaderboard, Boylan and Leslie have used 46 layover hours going into McGrath while the teams in second and third have only taken 45 layover hours.
Rounding out the top three is Mike Morgan of Nome and his teammate Chris Olds. Team #10 pulled into McGrath at 12:40am this morning and are currently taking a 12-hour layover instead of 13.
Iron Dog’s Executive Director, Mike Vasser, says, “attrition is starting to come into play. Now we’re starting to see that the incredibly fast pace is probably going to take its toll.”
Former race leaders of Brett Lapham and Zack Weisz have fallen back to sixth position as they pulled into McGrath just before 3am this morning.
Their troubles started before arriving at Galena yesterday afternoon, as Leslie and Weisz had a small collision when one racer attempted to pass the other. The incident resulted in a couple damaged windshields, though race officials say the damage isn’t major, and neither racer is seriously injured. Iron Dog Board of Directors vice president Doug Dixon says neither competitor blames the other, and it’s all a part of racing.
Iron Doug officials anticipate the front runners being held in Puntilla later tonight, setting up a Saturday morning finish in Big Lake.
Stay tuned to KNOM Update News for the next 2021 Iron Dog race update.
Image at top: Iron Dog teams arriving into Ruby, southbound, in the 2020 race. Photo from Iron Dog, courtesy of Melissa Captain (2020).
