Hi Boys and Girls,

In the Iditarod, so much can happen in a short period of time.  The winds between White Mountain and Safety and Safety to Nome have been described as horrific.  Jeff King was blown off the trail and has scratched 3.7 miles from Safety.  Aliy has made it to Safety and is staying at the Safety Cabin.  Dallas is still moving slowly to Safety.  We’ll just have to stay tuned and see what happens next.  A winner should come in today, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.  Mitch, Josr, and Sonny are all on the trail between White Mountain and Safety. 

Today’s update:

DATE:  March 11, 2014

TIME:  00:55

LEADERS:

1.Aliy Zirkle

2.Dallas Seavey

3.Mitch Seavey

4.Josr Leifseth Ulsom

5.Sonny Lindner

WHERE ARE THE MUSHERS:  Aliy has left Safety and is waiting out the storm in the Safety Cabin, Dallas, Mitch, Josr, and Sonny have left White Mountain, 5 teams are resting in White Mountain, 3 teams have left Elim and are on their way to White Mountain. 9 teams are in Elim, 3 team are out of Koyuk. There are 0 teams in Koyuk. Their are 9 teams out of Shaktoolik, 4 teams have left Unalakleet, 2 teams are in Unalakleet, 4 teams are in Kaltag, 3 teams have left Nulato, 1 teams is in Nulato,

RED LANTERN POSITION: Elliot Anderson who is in Nulato.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR POSITION: Abbe West who is currently in 20^th position and is in Elim.

WEATHER:   The weather in Safety and Nome is -1 and mostly cloudy.  The winds are at 7mph.  This is very different from what’s being reported by people who are there. The weather in Elim is 1 degree and is cloudy and windy, The weather in Koyuk is -2, The weather in Shaktoolik is -2 degrees and is lightly snowing and windy, The weather in Unalakleet is 3 degrees, There is a severe weather alert for the area from Unalakleet to Elim.  The alert is for blowing snow and winds up to 40mph. Also 3-6 inches of snow is expected.

SCRATCHED: Jeff King scratched 3.7 miles before the Safety checkpoint. He was having difficulty navigating the trail and stayed with is team for approximately 2 ½ hours before asking a snowmobiler to contact race officials.  Jeff and others are moving his team to Safety.

Kelly Maixner scratched approximately 1.5 miles before reaching Golovin.  Maixner indicated that his team was having difficulty traveling against a crosswind while on the ice. 

AWARD:

QUESTION OF THE DAY: 

Answer to this mornings question: There was no question given last night.

Wishing all the mushers left on the trail safe travels.  Keep watching the Iditarod site for updates and when the winner is expected to arrive in Nome. 

Until tonight

Gypsy