The first dog team in this year’s Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race has reached the midway point. The village of Ruby looks out over the Yukon River at mile 495 along the Iditarod trail. Not only was Jeff King’s the first team to arrive, but his is also the only team to travel as far without taking 24 hours rest.
When Jeff King’s dog team pulled into Ruby, they were alert, tails wagging — in other words, they looked good, and that’s what he told the veterinarian.
“They really look perfect. They are eating and drinking and happy.”
King set to work feeding and bedding down his dogs. He’ll take his 24-hour rest in Ruby. It’s the same race schedule he ran in 2014, when he nearly claimed victory. He says bad weather forced him to scratch at the last checkpoint along the trail that year. But King believes winning and losing has nothing to do with mandatory rest.
“I don’t think the outcome of the Iditarod would have changed much in the entire history regardless of where the winner took their 24. That is not a deciding factor.”
What is a deciding factor, according to King, is how mushers drive their teams early on.
“You don’t absolve sins [committed] before the 24 hour break, by taking a 24 hour break, and there are teams that went rushing to McGrath or Takotna that will have impacted negatively their team, and the 24 ain’t gonna fix it.”
From Ruby, dog teams drop on to the Yukon River. As they do, mushers will find out how rested they really are. There are more than 130 river miles ahead, with nine extra overland miles where open water forced a reroute between Galena and Nulato. Mushers are required to take another eight hour rest before they leave the river at Kaltag.
Instagram snaps from the Ruby checkpoint (or nearby):
https://www.instagram.com/p/BCzHG7OQari/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BCzHgm9war8/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BCzH-tewasm/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BCyV7eowam_/
