Hi Boys and Girls,

WOW!  There have been a total of 11 scratches.  Most scratches have been due to musher injury.  I wish everyone a speedy recovery.  Well the mushers who are still on the trail will be getting ready for the 24 hour mandatory rest?  Do you know where this rest must be taken?  So, if you see that the mushers aren’t moving, don’t worry, they are probably taking their rest.  Remember, that once everyone has completed their 24 hour rest, we will know the exact position of the teams.

This mornings update:

DATE:  March 5, 2014

TIME:  01:27

LEADERS:

1.Nicolas Petit

2.Jeff King

3.Sonny Lindner

4.Ally Zirkle

5.Aaron Burmeister

WHERE ARE THE MUSHERS:  Nicolas is in Ophir, Jeff and Sonny have left Takotna, Ally, Aaron, and 6 other teams are in Tokotna, 7 teams have left McGrath, 3 teams are in McGrath, 7 teams have left Nikolai, 14 teams are in Nikolai, 13 teams have left Rohn, and 1 team is in Rohn

RED LANTERN POSITION: Ellen Halverson who is in Rohn.

WEATHER:   The weather in Rohn is 25 degrees with light snow.  There is still a severe weather alert for this area of the trail for a prolonged duration of snow. The weather between Nikolai and Ophir is 11 degrees and cloudy.

SCRATCHED:

Jan Steves scratched due to concern for the welfare of her team.

Jake Berkowitz scratched due to his sled being damaged beyond repair.

Cindy Abbott scratched due to a strained shoulder.

Scott Janssen scratched while on the trail due to a severely injured leg.

WITHDRAWN:  Karen Ramstead was withdrawn from the race due to an injury (broken hand) deemed too significant to continue in the race. 

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What is the difference between scratching from the race and being withdrawn from the race?

Answer tomorrow.

Answer to last night’s question: Today’s update was done at 14:23 in Alaska.  In New Hampshire where I live it was 18:23.  How can that be?

The world is divided into time zones.  The continental United states is divided into 4 time zones.  There’s the Eastern Time Zone (EST), the Central Time Zone (CST), the Mountain Time Zone (MST) and the Pacific Time Zone (PST).  Alaska and Hawaii each have their own time zones.  There is a 4 hour difference in time from the Eastern time zone and the Alaskan time zone.  So if it’s 10:00 in the morning in New Hampshire it’s 6:00 in the morning in Alaska.  Do you know what time zone you live in? 

Yesterdays question was about the Dalzell Gorge.  Here is a picture taken by Jeff Schultz of a team going down the Gorge.  Notice anything unusual? YEP, there’s no snow.  It’s been a really rough ride this year.

Until tonight,

Gypsy