From Seavey FB:
(8 hours ago):
Jessie Holmes takes the lead in #Iditarod2024
Jessie Holmes led the front pack out of Old Woman Cabin at 8:20 am Sunday, followed by Dallas Seavey at 8:42. They were the two fastest teams on the previous run, and this is the point of the race when teams start pushing, and speed is the ultimate sign of strength.
Edit: Travis Beals left third at 9:35
Edit #2: Matt Hall left 4th at 9:47
Edit #3 Paige Drobny left at 10:38
Ryan Redington's GPS is still showing camped at Old Woman, but that's hard to believe. He's either taking a long nap, or his tracker fell off.
It'll be interesting to see what they do from here, there's not an aggressive schedule that makes much sense, they're too far to get to White Mountain in 3 runs, and 4 is really awkward with the checkpoint distances, and 5 is not a competitive schedule, so it'll get interesting. The teams seem content to play it safe, so we may see teams stop in Unalakleet, although I'm sure some will push through if the trail permits.
Followed by 4 hours ago:
Jessie Holmes was first into Unalakleet at 12:35, Dallas arrived about 20 minutes later, stayed just 5 minutes and out at 1pm. Jessie appears to be camping, Dallas is going through, now back in 1st!
This is the part where maths comes into play and I can't even do it at home in front of my cozy computer, let alone as a sleep-deprived, cold, bleary musher. How do they do this part - figure out what to do next? I assume they write it all down weeks before the race, and give themselves various options.
Someone said somewhere that Jessie H set up his schedule to beat Brent - so whatever he does is with that in mind.
Last year, Ryan stayed at Unk for 3 hr 47 m.... but he arrived there about 4.5 hours before the next musher (Pete).
In 2022, Brent did
not stop in Unk, but Dallas did (Dallas arrived 1 hr 50 mins behind Brent).
I'd like to hear interviews with both Jessie and Travis, to hear what's going on with them.