When I wrote this morning, I was firmly convinced that Brent Sass had the race well in hand. He marched right into the Mile 101 checkpoint and settled in to rest, and to wait. Sure enough as Allen Moore topped Eagle Summit Brent apparently bootied up, called 'em up and hit the trail.
I was surprised that Allen Moore didn't stop at the checkpoint long at all. He saw an opportunity to close the gap, and took it. He is currently chasing Brent toward the Two Rivers checkpoint, on the other side of Rosebud Summit. Thus far in the race, Brent's team has avereageda route speed of 4.1 mph, compared to Allen's at 4.0 mph.
With that mandatory 8-hour layover coming up in Two Rivers, Allen may be counting on the long break to rest his team enough for a sprint to the finish line. Brent will certainly be doing the same.
The last time these two mushers were this close so near the finish of the race, Brent edged out Allen in the last stretch, between Two Rivers and the finish line in Fairbanks. That year, Allen's team simply ran out of energy and couldn't keep up. This year Brent is running an entirely different team of dogs - but so is Allen. I suspect I'll be glued to the ol' computer until these two teams check in just up the road a bit from my place.
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