Team 7 of Tyler Aklestad and Nick Olstad have increased their lead on the second position team to almost 35 minutes.

Although Casey Boylan and Bryan Leslie were cutting into that margin Feb. 23, they are running out of time to claim first in this year’s Iron Dog snowmachine race.

The top teams are all on 12 hour layovers currently in McGrath. Aklestad and Olstad checked in first at 11:19 p.m. last night and will be set to depart at 11:19 a.m. today.

Nome’s Miller brothers, Jarvis and Jordan, are now firmly in fourth position with a total course time of just more that 51 hours.

Once the leaders get to Skwentna, the final checkpoint before the finish, they will have a mandatory hold and then be released based on their split times.

All teams can take up to 40 hours of layover time before reaching Skwentna, according to race rules.

Fifteen teams still remain in this year’s race. There have been no new scratches since they departed the halfway point in Nome.

Image at top: Racers approach checkpoint Rohn. Photo courtesy of Iron Dog, used with permission.