Hi Boys and Girls,

The teams are all off and the race is underway.  Remember with these early updates that the teams are settling in on the trail and who is in the lead will probably change several times over the next day or so.  First, here is a picture of Mitch Seavey leaving the start line yesterday taken by Jeff Schultz.

Now for today’s update:

DATE: March 5  Monday

TIME: 1:46 am Alaska Time

LEADERS: 1. Martin Buser, 2. Matt Failor, 3. Jason Mackey, 4. Lance Mackey, 5. Aaron Burmeister    All have left the checkpoint of Skwenta. 

WHERE ARE THE MUSHERS: The first 13 mushers have left Skwenta.  25 mushers are in Skwenta, all but 1 musher is on their way to Skwenta with that one musher still in Yetna.

RED LANTERN POSITION: James Volek in Yetna

WEATHER:   The weather in Skwenta and Yetna  24 and cloudy

SCRATCHED: Ed Stielstra at Campbell Airfield.  Ed suffered an injury while training in mid Feb.  He did not feel he could safely take his team down the trail.  Ed did not want to disappoint his iditarider so he participated in the Ceremonial Start and scratched at the Campbell Airfield. 

 QUESTION OF THE DAY:  If todays update was taken at 1:46am Alaska time, what time was it where you live? The answer will be in tonight’s update.

.Enjoy the race.  Check back tonight for another update.

Until then,

Gypsy