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Hi, ADN Iditarod fans,

The front pack of this year's race remains as competitive as ever, now that most mushers have reached the Yukon River. Jessie Holmes left the checkpoint of Nulato for Kaltag this morning less than two hours after Travis Beals, the current leader, and both of them have taken their mandatory 8-hour Yukon River rests. 

Don't sleep on the other mushers, though: Dallas Seavey, who was the second musher to arrive in Nulato after Beals, left just a moment ago, fresh off his 8-hour rest. Matt Hall and Paige Drobny left before him, defending champion Ryan Redington appears to be on the move, and 2019 champ Pete Kaiser likely won't be far behind.

In Kaltag, the leaders will be greeted by sunshine, blue skies and temperatures currently hovering around zero degrees.

Back in Ruby, Alaska Public Media's Casey Grove caught up with a few of this year's leaders, who were preparing for cold conditions forecast along the Yukon River and the Norton Sound coast. 

At that point, Kaiser complimented Beals' team and their speed, but also noted: "We're only halfway in the race, and tons can happen."

Bethel musher Pete Kaiser feeds one of his dogs at the Ruby checkpoint on Friday. (Casey Grove / Alaska Public Media)

Hunter Keefe — who's running his second Iditarod after reaching Nome last year in 11th place, capping off a childhood dream — had two reasons to be upbeat in Ruby. 

First off, he'd been jamming to an 18-hour playlist and finding creative ways to tie the songs to whatever he was doing (in this case, mushing, mushing and more mushing). Second, his dogs had a terrific appetite.

"I’ve never had a team this fat and eating this well, so that’s really cool and I’m really happy about that, and when you’ve got an appetite like that you can do a little bit more," he told APM.

Knik musher Hunter Keefe spreads straw for his dogs in the Ruby checkpoint in the Iditarod on Friday. (Casey Grove / Alaska Public Media)

Jessie Holmes took a moment to show how his hand was still swollen after he punched a moose in the nose early on in the race — apparently the same animal Seavey ended up killing and gutting after it attacked his team. 

“I didn’t like want to punch the moose in the nose, it was just a last ditch effort to not get stomped or to have any dogs get stomped,” Holmes told Alaska Public Media. “Dallas said, ‘I wished you had punched it harder.’”

Brushkana musher Jessie Holmes shows his hand, still swollen days after punching a moose, while at the Ruby checkpoint on Friday. (Casey Grove / Alaska Public Media)

Faloo, the Seavey dog that was injured in the moose encounter, appears to be making a smooth, couch-based recovery after having emergency surgery, according to his kennel.

A few readers have asked why Kristy Berington, Anna's identical twin sister, isn't racing the Iditarod this year. They've often run the Iditarod together, sticking close by on the trail, and Kristy could be seen helping with their kennel's dogs during the start weekend.

According to the Eye on the Trail blog, the Beringtons decided that it'd be better for only one of them to run the Iditarod this year, taking into account the cost of competing and their kennel size. While both had a hand in training the team, Anna's competing in the Iditarod this year while Kristy is running other races this season.

Musher Gabe Dunham and her dog team head up a bank on the Yukon River while arriving at the Galena checkpoint Saturday. (Casey Grove / Alaska Public Media)

As always, you can check back at ADN.com/iditarod for the latest updates from this year's race. We'll be watching closely to see how the competition shakes out as mushers leave the Yukon for Unalakleet, the first checkpoint along the Norton Sound coast.

Happy trails, 

Vicky Ho
vho@adn.com

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