Hi Boys and Girls,

Hope you had a great day at school. How are you doing with following the race. I’ve seen some of the great projects going on in your classrooms. You are having so much fun. I wish I could be there with all of you. I love learning new things.

The race is going well. The teams are dealing with the cold. It looks like the weather will be warming up a little over the weekend. Many teams have already taken their 8 hour mandatory rest. Usually the 24 hour rest comes first. But with the change in the trail, that changed the race plans. It sure surprised me. Did it surprise you?

Who’s In First

As of 14:25 AST, Four teams have come into and left Galena They are headed to Huslia. Three of those mushers have taken their 8 hour mandatory rest. There are currently 9 teams in Galena. Once again we are seeing a change in the top five. I think we’re going so see this change a few more times.

1. Mitch Seavey
2. Jessie Royer
3. Michelle Phillips
4. Ralph Johannessen
5. Joar Leifseth Ulsom

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 Robert Redington who has moved up to 12th Place. He arrived into Galena at 13:49. Sebastian Vergnaud who has held that position is currently in 18^th position and is on the trail to Galena. In the Red Lantern Position is rookie Roger Lee (picture on left). Roger has left Tanana and is headed to Ruby. I was reading Roger’s biography and he is a LtCol in the US Air Force. He took a one year leave to train for and run in the Iditarod.

A few other rookie updates: In the back of the pack is Justin Stielstra in 62^nd place, Dave Delcourt in 64^th place, Michael Baker in 65^th place, Peter Reuter in 66^th place and Jimmy Lebling in 67^th place. All of these rookies have left Tanana and are headed to Ruby.

Weather

Ruby- (picture of Ruby checkpoint on left) The temperature is 8 degrees. After temps in the -30 range it must feel like summer out there! It is cloudy with 7mph winds. The area will see a warming trend for the next couple of days.

Galena- The temperature is 10 degrees. It is fair with 10 mph winds. There will also be a warming trend in this area.

Huslia- The temperature is 6 degrees. It is cloudy with light winds. The warming trend will extend to Huslia also.

Question of the day

What do the dogs eat out on the trail? How many calories do they take in each day?

Answer to previous question

This mornings question had to do with the mandatory rests. There are 3 mandatory rests. Mandatory means that is has to be done. The rest that’s talked about the most is the 24 hour. The 24 hour mandatory race may be taken at any checkpoint that the musher feels is beneficial to the dogs. The starting differential is added to the 24 hour time. There are two 8 hour mandatory stops. The first one must be taken on the Yukon River and the second is taken in the checkpoint of White Mountain. None of the mandatory stops can be combined. This means it’s 3 separate rests. Also, a musher must personally sign in and out to check into and at completion of the mandatory stop.

Have a good evening. Check back tomorrow morning for another update. I can’t wait to see if there are any position changes.

See you on the trail,

Gypsy