Hi Boys and Girls,

Good morning. I hope you had a good nights sleep. The teams have been busy over night. 20 teams have arrived into Ruby. The top 3 teams have left Ruby heading to Galena. We have our first Scratch. Another award has been won. Keep reading for the details!

Who’s In First

As of 02:52 AST, we have a change in the top 5. Mitch, Joar. and Nicolas have left Ruby after taking about a 4 hour rest each. Wade and Dallas are still in Ruby along with 15 other teams. I bet that’s a busy place right now! Especially with 45 more teams on the trail between Tanana and Ruby.

1. Mitch Seavey
2. Joar Leifseth Ulsom
3. Nicolas Petit
4. Wade Marrs
5. Dallas Seavey

REMEMBER: Until the time differential is applied to all times at the 24 hour Mandatory rest, we will not know who is truly in the lead.

Rookie Report

The rookies are all doing well. Currently in the Rookie of the Year Position is Sebastian Vergnaud. who has moved up to 12th Place. He arrived into Ruby at 00:33. In the Red Lantern Position is rookie Jimmy Lebling. Jimmy has arrived into Tanana and is resting there.

A few other rookie updates: Robert Redington is in Ruby in 19^th place, Laura Neese has left Tanana in 35^th place, and Ryan Anderson has left Tanana in 43^rd place.

Trail Tails

Musher Mark May scratched in Tanana. He made the decision due to concern over for his team. He had 16 dogs when he made the decision.

Wade Marrs received the Pen Air Spirit of Alaska award for being the first musher to arrive in Ruby. He received a beautiful framed print by Alaska artist Jon Van Zyle Congratulation to Wade.

Weather

Tanana- The temperature is -28. It is clear and the winds are calm. The high today should be around 5 degrees.

Ruby- The temperature is -10 degrees. It is fair with light winds. The high today should reach 9 degrees

Galena- The temperature is -17 degrees. It is fair and calm. The high today should reach 14 degrees.

Question of the day

I’ve talked a lot about the 24 hour mandatory rest. But it’s not the only mandatory rest in the race.   What are the others and where do they have to be taken?

Answer to previous question

Iditarod Volunteers- The Iditarod race has mostly volunteers working the race. A volunteer is someone who does a job and doesn’t get paid for it. People volunteer for experience, because it’s something they feel very strong about, to have fun doing something they are interested in. So what kind of jobs in the Iditarod are worked by volunteers? Almost all of them. The Veterinarians, pilots, communication workers, checkpoint checkers, race judges, and so many more. All of the K9 reporters are volunteers too! We do it because we love the race, we love reporting and we want to share our knowledge with others. 

Would you like to be a volunteer?  What job would you like to do?  Do some research on the different volunteer jobs and see which one you think you’d like to do.  Maybe someday you can be an Iditarod volunteer!

I can’t wait to see how today goes. Have fun, study hard and check back later today for another update.

See you on the trail,

Gypsy