This morning found Lance Mackey in 3rd place. He and his 16 dogs are really finding their pace. They are averaging almost 6.23 MPH. This is a long race and there is no reason for Mackey to put a target on his back by leading the race at this point.
I often wonder what these guys think about on the trail. There is over 1000 miles ahead of you when you leave Anchorage a single though of Nome would doom the musher and his team. To think of Nome is to create a huge psychological mountain to climb. Mushers keep the big picture at bay and take it a mile at a time. The mile behind you is over and the miles ahead aren’t here yet. There’s just the area of trail you’re traveling at any given point. One mile at a time. One hour at a time.
Mackey is a very experienced musher. He is a back to back Iditarod winner and 4 time Yukon Quest champion and current record holder. At just 38 Mackey has years of mushing ahead of him and I look forward to many more Iditarod wins from him.
I must admit as the days before the Iditarod wound down I was very concerned about his performance. He has an entire new team of dogs and history has shown while new dog teams may start strong they often fade. Mackey is an expert and I am confident he would not have begun this race with a less than superior team of dogs but he is a marked man so any advantage he can get would be nice.
Mackey was last seen at checkpoint 8 (Rohn). There are still 17 checkpoints to go before he and his team come roaring into checkpoint 26 (Nome).
We don't want to forget about one of my favorite spots in the race, the Red Lantern spot. Yesterday it was Kim Darst in the coveted spot. Kim has moved up a spot and the Red Lantern spot has been taken over by Rob Loveman of Seeley Lake, MT.
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