This recap from Danny Seavey this morning on FB:
Brent made the first move in Iditarod 50
All of the teams will be taking their 24 hour breaks today/tonight/tomorrow, so which place they are on the standing sheet doesn't mean much, you have to figure out their relative position on the trail. And despite the persistent questions by the reporters, the mushers are not adjusting their schedules to the competitors yet, the good teams are all on their own schedule. Brent Sass leaving Ophir right as Dallas went through is coincidence and nothing more. By my math:
Brent Sass is set to go Nikolai*-Ophir-Cripple in two big runs with only one rest, while the rest of the field is breaking it into 3 runs with two rests.
The result is Brent is in lead by the length of a rest break - 4 hours in most cases - over the rest of the field. I imagine his plan is go non-stop to Cripple to take his 24 hour break, which would give him a commanding lead at that point. The question is at what cost? He's also slowed down considerably, indicating the trail is much slower than it was yesterday, and a long march with a tired dog team on a slow trail can take it's toll.
In 2nd is Aaron Burmeister, the only lead pack team that chose to take his 24 in McGrath, so he'll look like he's way behind for a day here, but he was the first to arrive there, and will be close behind Brent leaving Cripple.
Richie Diehl took a short break in McGrath and went up to Ophir for his 24. he's roughly 2 hours behind Brent in 3rd.
Dallas Seavey is in 4th, he left Ophir first, but needed to camp soon, and he camped an hour past Ophir, stopping at 5:03 this morning. I'd expect him to sit there three and a half hours and leave between 8:30 and 9, basically the length of his rest behind Sass. As I said last night, se seems very happy in his position, so I'm assuming he's where he wants to be, albeit tired. He cheerfully told the checker "I need to sleep" going through Ophir last night.
From there Mille Porsild, Jesse Holmes, Ryan Redington, Mitch Seavey, Paige Drobny, Hugh Neff, and Travis Beals round out the greater top 10, in a very difficult to distinguish order.
If you have anything you have to get done during this race, tomorrow is your day, as the teams will be mostly stopped. Plan your grocery runs and ER visits accordingly.
Danny
and, looking at the vid of him going through Ophir:
Dallas' team looked VERY strong going through Ophir, the dogs we're clearly much more awake than the musher.