Hi Boys and Girls, This is really an exciting race. Who’s in the lead? Jeff? Brent? Aily? Brent?. It’s like watching a ping pong ball go back and forth. The top mushers are very close together. This is where all their preplanning and strategy will come into play. Do you want to make a guess on who will win? PHOTO OF THE DAY: DATE: March 12, 2016 TIME: 1:41 TOP 5 MUSHERS: 1. Brent Sass in Nulato 2. Aliy Zirkle out of Galena 3. Mitch Seavey out of Galena 4. Jeff King out of Galena 5. Robert Sorlie out of Galena The mushers have started taking their 8 hour mandatory rest. Of the top 5 mushers, only Aliy has completed it. It looks like Brent is taking his now in Nulato. Will we see the lead change again? RED LANTERN MUSHER: Ellen Halveson in Ophir TOP ROOKIE: In 26th place is Geir Idar Hjelvik. SCRATCHED: No scratches AWARDS: None FEATURED MUSHER: All information is taken from the mushers bio on the Iditarod.com site. Want to know about your favorite musher? Check the Iditarod site for more information. Geir Idar Hjelvik Geir is 54 years old and is from Norway. He started mushing in 1987 by skijoring with a German Shepherd. After breeding a little of Alaskan Huskies, he became interested in the Iditarod. We ran and finished in the Femundiopet and the Finmarkslopet. He has a kennel of 30 dogs in Norway. For this Iditarod he is running a team from Dallas Seavey’s kennel. Geir is the father of 13 year old Mar. His hobbies include Rorospois (Norwegian folk dancing), knife making and wood working. I just love learning about all these mushers. They are all so interesting. Don’t you think so? QUESTION OF THE DAY: Where does the first mandatory 8 hour rest have to be taken? Have a great Saturday. Happy trails, Gypsy