Dallas Seavey leads Iditarod field between Ophir, Cripple

 Dallas Seavey, first into McGrath, rested his dogs for a few hours before leaving. (Photo by Zachariah Hughes/KSKA)
Dallas Seavey, first into McGrath, rested his dogs for a few hours before leaving. (Photo by Zachariah Hughes/KSKA)

Reigning Iditarod champion Dallas Seavey, of Willow, leads the field Wednesday morning, spending about 5 minutes in the Ophir checkpoint before continuing on toward Cripple at 2:21 a.m.

According to the GPS tracker, Seavey appears to be resting along the trail 10 miles past Ophir.

Noah Burmeister is running in second place, checking out of Ophir at 5:52 a.m., with 2011 Iditarod winner John Baker following 10 minutes later.

Seavey and Baker both have 14 dogs left in harness. Burmeister is still running with 16 dogs.

Seavey also won the PenAir Spirit of Alaska Award for being the first musher to reach McGrath, checking in at 6:34 p.m. Tuesday.

Three mushers have scratched from the race, so far.

Josh is the Statewide Morning News Reporter/Producer for Alaska Public Media | jedge (at) alaskapublic (dot) org | 907.550.8455 | About Josh

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