Day 4 of the Iditarod...

by Graham Email

Link: http://www.cabelasiditarod.com

...and 4-time winner Doug Swingley still leads at the halfway point. However, for the next 2 days the real race positions will be obscured by mushers taking their mandatory 24 hour layover. Most mushers take the layover shortly after the halfway point. Taking that layover will move you down the order, but you will then move back up as other mushers have to take their layovers. A handful of leading mushers (most notably Lance Mackey) have already taken their 24 hour rest, but most of the other leaders will take theirs in the next 48 hours. When all that is complete, expect Mackey to be a lot higher than his current position.
The race rules mandate 1 24 hour layover and an 8 hour layover (to be taken anywhere on the trail) and an 8 hour layover which must be taken at White Mountain.
Dee Dee Jonrowe is still in second, and her dogs look happy and fresh, judging by some of the pictures available on the public internet sites. The real threat lurks back several places in the form of Bjornar Anderson, the lead representative of Team Norway, who finished fourth last year as a rookie (the highest ever rookie finish by a country mile) despite running the #2 team behind countryman and winner Robert Sorlie. Anderson has been moving steadily up the order since the start.
Rachael Scdoris, the legally blind musher, is making steady progress on the trail with Dean Osmar as her guide. After scratching last year, she is already running much better this year.