ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Jim Lanier has taken the lead in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race but has not yet taken a mandatory 24-hour break.
This is the time in the race where some teams leapfrog to the front. That is because many of the front-runners stayed put in the checkpoint in Takotna while others moved through, choosing to rest their teams elsewhere along the trail.
The 71-year-old Lanier is one of them. Trent Herbst, who also hasn’t taken his 24-hour break, is in second place.
The 2004 Iditarod champion, Mitch Seavey, who has completed his 24-hour break, is in third place. He is followed by Aliy Zirkle, who has been leading the race.
By early Thursday, more than a half-dozen mushers were out of the Ophir checkpoint, 623 miles from Nome.
