Although the clock reads 1:00 AM, my brain is still on Alaska Standard Time, so I'm going to pretend it's midnight for a bit. As I write John Baker has come off the sea ice to pull into the Koyuk checkpoint at 11:35 pm. According to the IoEarth Race Tracker, Hans Gatt has just arrived in Koyuk, so he has gained some ground on the leader. Ramey Smith is within a mile of the checkpoint, Sebastian Schnuelle is less than 4 miles out and Hugh Neff is only a couple of miles behind Sab. The next closest musher is Dallas Seavey, some 20 miles back down the trail.
I am expecting all of the front-runners to grab some rest, especially those chasing as they blew through Shaktoolik with barely a nod and a wave. We'll know within a few hours whether or not that is an accurate prediction. My crystal ball hasn't been working particularly well during the race, so.... take it with a grain or 40 of salt.
The long distance races always makes me so antsy towards the end, I can't stand it - I'm back and forth on the computer constantly, edgy for every musher and the competition. And the videos around just make it worse - Soooo exciting!
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