As of Monday morning, unofficial standings show female Quest competitors out front. Quest veteran Michelle Phillips is currently pulling a strong first position.
Phillips pulled through Stepping Stone at around 5am Monday morning. Though the official leaderboard still shows Allen Moore in first position coming out of Pelly Crossing, race manager Pixie Ingram confirmed the positions of Phillips and second position Paige Drobny as the current leaders. According to Ingram, that is because Stepping Stone is an unofficial checkpoint and thus not reflected in the leaderboard.
All top five racers have full teams of dogs. Official results show Allen Moore checked in and out of Pelly Crossing at 9:30pm (PST) on Sunday, with Hans Gatt taking after him, leaving Pelly in second position at 11:18pm last night. Brent Sass left Pelly with Gatt at the same time last night and is currently shown, officially, in position three.
However, race manager Ingram has confirmed that currently Canadian Michelle Phillips has the lead, followed by American Paige Drobny. The next official checkpoint is Dawson City, where mushers are required to rest for 36 hours.
Image at top: file photo: Iditarod 2014: Canadian musher Michelle Phillips attends to her dogs on Wednesday afternoon in Takotna. Photo: David Dodman, KNOM.
