The top teams in Iron Dog 2023 action are getting back underway after taking a 12-hour layover in McGrath.
Team 7 of Tyler Aklestad and Nick Olstad checked in first at 11:19 p.m. Thursday night and departed at 11:19 a.m. Friday.
Aklestad and Olstad have increased their lead on the second position team of Casey Boylan and Bryan Leslie to almost 35 minutes.
Although Boylan and Leslie were cutting into that margin Thursday, they are running short of time to claim first place in this year’s race. The anticipated arrival of the 2023 Iron Dog winners is approximately noon on Feb. 25 in Big Lake.
Nome’s Miller brothers, Jarvis and Jordan, are now firmly in fourth position with a total course time of just more than 51 hours. Nome’s Cody Moen and Wasilla’s Chad Gueco, Team 8, are in eighth position with a course time of just over 46 hours.
Fifteen teams remain in this year’s race. There have been no new scratches since they departed the halfway point in Nome.
Image at top: An airplane and supplies stand ready at the Rohn Roadhouse checkpoint. Photo courtesy of Iron Dog, used with permission (2023).
